SC - Honey ice cream

[David & Sue Carter]

Helen said:
Subject: SC - Honey ice cream


> Hi,
>     I got an ice cream maker and read you could not do honey ice cream as
it did
> not freeze well.  But I have been told that an American traveller in New
Zealand
> fell in love with the honey ice cream there and did nothing but eat honey
ice
> cream at every tour stop.  Is it true?  Any recipes?
>
> Thanks,
> Helen
>
Because I said:
(snip)
> >  Our excess
> > cream was turned into THE best ice cream in the universe - Golden North
> > Honey ice cream (there was once a war for ownership of me because I
worked
> > at the plant that made this stuff.  Helen of Troy WAS just a pretty
face,
> > real wars are fought for FOOD)
> >
> > Esla
> > (Now in wine corks, not in ice cream)
> > mka Sue Carter
> >

It was American travellers from the Central West attending our Principality
event at which I provided an 11lt of Honey Ice Cream that suggested the war!
As the largest consumers per capita of ice cream by a long way its well
known that Americans love their ice cream.

That you cannot make honey ice cream because it doesn't freeze properly is a
correct, but simplified statement.
Honey is an extremely complex food.  It contains literally hundreds of
types of proteins, carbohydrates(sugars) vitamins and minerals. It is easier
to tell owners of home ice cream makers that it can't be done than list the
variables and take the flack for the failures.

Freezing hardness and rate is determined by a complex interaction of the
individual freezing curves of the component ingredients. But generally low
molecular ingredients freeze faster and smaller than large ones.
The ideal ice cream has the tiniest of water crystals for smoothness and the
simplest of sugars to prevent sandiness. (if you ever want to discuss ice
cream in depth with me, please just ask)  Honey is not only complex, but it
is variable in composition, depending on everything from the strain of the
bees, through the season, to what the bees are gathering. This means making
a consistent product is very  hard.
Most commercial honey ice creams have honey flavouring in them, avoiding the
problem of the honey sugars upsetting the freezing curve.  A few have real
honey in them.  Although the flavoured ones are very good, if you have ever
had the real thing, you know the difference.

Golden North had the secret of putting real honey in.  It was the result of
literally years of trial and error. I can tell you some general reasons for
their success, but I am still bound by secrecy agreements over the exact
recipe and handling.  I'm sorry if you find that 'melodramatic' but I am an
honourable person out of persona as much as in and will not reveal
intellectual property that is not mine to give.

Anyway, the general reasons included:
continuity of supply - we took honey from one supplier only
integrity of supply - the honey was from bees that were put out into one
type of area only
freshness - we did not heat treat the honey
cleanliness of supply - all wax was removed the first time (fully clarified)

If you experiment with honey you will find a recipe and honey type that
works.  Do not try to substitute honey for all the sugar in your recipe. Use
cane sugar as the 'other' sugar. Do not use strong flavoured honey with out
remembering that that flavour will intensify as you cook up the mix. Using a
recipe with gelatine in the mix as it helps to stop protein separation at
freezing.
Try to work to the above general guidelines, for instance by getting it
direct from the grower.  Preferably a grower who works his/her bees in set
areas and so knows for sure what they're collecting.

Even so, the product will probably be a little softer, but it will taste
divine.

The absolute best way to eat GN honey ice cream was straight off the churn.
This is when all the ice nuclei have formed, but the product is not fully
frozen. It had the consistency of soft serve, but none of the
filler/stabiliser taste.  It was a treat that never ever failed to please
visitors.

Good luck with the experiments.

Esla
mka Sue Carter
Innilgard, Lochac
Adelaide, Australia