Hojicha Ice Cream
Matcha's (tastier? tastier!) cousin.
The picture above is of a hojicha soft serve I got from Midori Matcha while in LA over Spring Break. It was delicious! So good, in fact, that I decided I needed to make some at the next available opportunity. Friends, that opportunity is now. But before I get into all that, permit me a small digression.
I’ve been struggling a lot this week with everything that’s been happening nationally, internationally, locally, etc. I mean, it’s a struggle every week with this guy, but sometimes, the cruelty and stupidity of the fool occupying the White House weigh heavier, for whatever reason, than at other times. And so there have been moments this week when I felt like I just could not put up with another millisecond of his abject idiocy. Yet we have no choice but to do just that for another 45 months. When all is said and done, we’ll look back and see it as a feat of considerable patience and endurance.
Last night, I was reading (as one does) the Balapandita Sutta (Fools and Wise Men) from the Majjhima Nikaya. In it, the Buddha explains that “A fool is one who thinks bad thoughts, speaks bad words, and does bad deeds, the wise know him thus: ‘This person is a fool, an untrue man.’” This definition, while simple and perhaps painfully self-evident, not only rings true for me, it helped me feel slightly better, even if all it did was provide me with the solace of knowing deep in my soul that Trump is an absolute fool, an untrue human being. Sometimes simply speaking the truth can help a lot.
Anyway, just wanted to share that. Now back to our regularly scheduled ice cream programming.
The ingredient line up this week is straight from the Salt & Straw recipe playbook. Half milk, half heavy cream, some sugar and corn syrup, a bit of guar gum, and 2 tablespoons of hojicha!
After being unable to locate hojicha at Berkeley Bowl last weekend, I trekked up to the Asha Tea House in Berkeley on Tuesday during my lunch break to purchase the pouch pictured above. Here's a closer view of it:
Oooh! Kagoshima Prefecture! Fancy! I should acknowledge that they also sell hojicha powder up there—which is what Midori used in the soft serve I mentioned at the outset—but the powder was triple the price, and the way things are going with the economy right now, all of us should probably be pinching pennies.
Anyhoo, here’s the assembly process:
I made sure to get the milk to near 212°F so the tea would steep properly. I let it sit for a few minutes before adding the sugars.
Once it had cooled slightly (it was still well over 100°F), I added the heavy cream and let it steep another few minutes.
After straining out the hojicha tea, I added the guar gum and immersion blended the whole shebang.
It appears as though little flecks of hojicha passed through the fine mesh strainer. Not sure how that happened, but I tasted a bit of the mix and didn’t notice them impacting the texture, so I left them in. I stuck the mixture in the fridge for two hours before churning.
The churn looks good, so let’s move on to talk about the results.
Not bad! A slight bit of iciness, but in general, pretty good, which is not surprising given the underlying Salt & Straw recipe. And the taste was also quite good. You can taste the hojicha clearly, and even detect notes of matcha, but I found it mild and pleasing.
Was it as good as that soft serve I opened up the post with? Hell no. Not even close. That Midori soft serve achieved a chocolatey-ness that was outstanding. But overall, this was a respectable effort that I would be interested in doing again, next time with hojicha powder.
Okay, that’s a wrap for this week. See you next week when we’re finally going to make some strawberry ice cream. I have a recipe I’m very excited to try! See you then.