Green Tea Ice Cream

I've always had a soft spot for green tea ice cream and I remember it was such a treat when my mom brought it home because we couldn't get it at a regular grocery store and she had to make a special trip to a little Chinese store just to get it.

Over time, I discovered just how hard it was to find a good green tea ice cream. We would go to buffets and find a variety of green-coloured ice creams being advertised as green tea ice cream. Sometimes they would taste like green tea but not have the smooth, creamy texture, but other times it wouldn't taste like green tea at all.

I read through about a dozen recipes before I found one I thought would work. This is my favourite homemade ice cream so far.

My knowledge of ice cream making is extremely limited but I think this would be categorized as a custard-based ice cream. I wonder if you could make this recipe using store-bought custard. It would definitely save a bit of time and energy.

It took me a little while to find this green tea powder and when I did find it, there were a couple different options. Culinary quality, premium quality.

I had no idea what the difference was or which one to choose so I just went with this one because I like how 'culinary quality' sounds.

This stuff is so green and so potent. Warning: it also stains.

After the custard cools, pour the green tea in.

Then you add in the cream. It comes together to make this velvety smooth mixture.

It's important to get rid of any lumps of cream before you pour the mix into the ice cream maker for that super-smooth texture.

I haven't actually timed how long it takes to solidify in the ice cream maker but I would say it's under 20 minutes.

GREEN TEA ICE CREAM (from About.com)

Ingredients
3/4 cup milk
2 egg yolks
5 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 tbsp matcha green tea powder
3 tbsp hot water

Directions
1. Mix hot water and green tea powder together in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Lightly whisk egg yolks in a pan, add sugar and mix well.
3. Gradually add milk to pan and mix well over low heat, stirring constantly.
4. When mixture is thickened, remove pan from heat. Soak bottom of the pan in ice water and cool the mixture.
5. Add green tea in the egg mixture, mix well, cooling in ice water.
6. Add whipped heavy cream in the mixture, stir gently.
7. Pour mixture into ice cream maker, follow instructions of the ice cream maker. Or, pour into container and freeze, stirring ice cream a few times.

Notes
Completely dissolve the green tea powder in hot water. The lumps will not go away as the ice cream churns and those lumps are quite bitter.
I always let the egg mixture cool naturally because we never have ice on hand and it's worked out fine.