‘Pick ripe berries’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

Berry season. This is the time of year that puts the Omnomnom in Omnomnomivore. Er. Omnivore. Not lolcat. Check.

This is a heavenly couple weeks when strawberries are in season, blueberries are coming into season and blackberries and raspberries aren’t far off. The strawberries at the area farmers’ markets are about the size of a child’s fist, and sweet as laughter. You can just eat them whole, you can make jam, you can make strawberry shortcake, you can soak them in rum and lather them up with Gran Marnier whipped cream, or dip them in balsamic vinegar or dark chocolate or even just a little bit of peanut butter.

There’s really nothing you can’t do with fresh berries. And we’re lucky enough to get them for these next few weeks. So, head to the market and get a pint, a quart, or even a whole flat’s worth of summer’s tasty, tasty bounty. Soak them in red wine and serve sangria. Eat them with fresh whipped cream. Make a pie. Make muffins. But they never, ever, ever get this good at any other time. The rest of the year, they have to come from South America, or California, or anywhere where they have to grow them extra hardy, and extra bland. Or, best of all, ice cream. Click through for my favorite ice cream recipe.

Jack Assists courtesy of Me

2 farm eggs
2 cups of cream
1.5 cups of milk
3/4 cup of sugar
1Tbsp of vanilla extract (I prefer Penzey’s
1 dry pint of strawberries, topped and sliced

Top & slice the strawberries, and sprinkle about 2 Tbsp of the sugar on top of the sliced strawberries. Let that sit aside while we work up the ice cream batter. Please be aware, I’m taking risks here with raw eggs, and those might not be risks that you’re comfortable with. If you’d prefer, you can custardize the eggs, milk & cream and run it through the tempering process. Beat together the eggs, cream and sugar, and thin it up with the milk until you get a good thick but sturdy batter. Once you’ve got the batter well combined, add the vanilla extract and mix it well. Put the batter back in the fridge for 30 minutes and bring it back down to 35-40°F or so.

This is small batch ice cream, built for Kitchen Aid ice cream mixers, or various other tabletop freezers, not for the big hand-crank freezers like the one pictured above. For those, double this recipe and make sure to stretch before cranking.

Once your batter is chilled, start up the churning process, and keep a good eye on the mix. Once the mixture has begun to stiffen up, add the strawberries and the resultant juice from the sugaring process. Finally, once it’s frozen up, move it to a new container, and drop it in the freezer. Oh, and don’t forget to lick the dysher clean. It’s tasty stuff, can’t let that go to waste. If you’re super brave? Throw a little balsamic in with the strawberries before sugaring them in the beginning.

Tom Bridge

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.