Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream & Black Sesame Ice Cream
Two Halloween-esque colors for Spooky Proposition dinner!
Every election year, my wife’s side of the family organizes a get-together to discuss the various propositions/measures on the California ballot. Sometimes it’s a lunch, sometimes it’s a brunch, and sometimes, like this year, it’s a dinner. It works like this: everyone volunteers to research one of the measures and then during the meal (because food is always involved), presents the arguments for and against as well as a recommendation on how to vote. While I don’t care too much for the ballot initiative process1, Proposition Dinner as we call it, is always an informative, and enjoyable time.
We also do a yearly dinner called Spooky Dinner, which is exactly what it sounds like: a Halloween-themed dinner. To give you a sense of the vibe, here’s a picture of what our family contributed to the dinner last year:
As you’ve likely deduced by this point, this year we combined the two events into Spooky Proposition Dinner. We ordinarily would have held the Proposition meal earlier in the month, but everyone’s schedules are busy these days!
When my ice cream-making hobby was enlisted for the dessert portion of the meal, my kids had differing ideas for what we should make. My son was keen for me to make Black Sesame. My daughter wanted Pumpkin Spice. And as you already know, I made both.
This is gonna be a long post, so enough yapping. Let’s get to it!
Black Sesame Ice Cream
Black Sesame ice cream is another popular flavor in Japan, so I looked to Just One Cookbook again for some guidance. Her key piece of advice was to buy some of this:
That is authentic black sesame paste from Japan. It’ll set you back about $26 smackaroos on Amazon. So yes, if you’ve been wondering, this little hobby of mine is getting quite expensive.
Just One Cookbook also says to add black sesame seeds that have been ground in a mortar and pestle, but since I had to make two ice creams this week, my lazy self decided to ignore that direction. Indeed, I was feeling a bit harried in the lead-up to this whole process, so I decided to make the Salt & Straw base and just add black sesame paste to it. The Just One Cookbook recipe was just too involved. In addition to making a custard, you had to bust out the stand mixer and make whipped cream and I was not trying to do all that.
So here’s how it went down!
It’s a simple process here: add the sugar, corn syrup, guar gum, and milk to a pot. Heat until the sugar dissolves. Then pour into a separate container, cool for a few minutes, then add the cream and black sesame paste.
The Just One Cookbook recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of the paste. As you may have noticed, I tend to be an uncertain and nervous cook. Much like with the Matcha ice cream, I didn’t want to add too much of the sesame paste. So I only added 2 tablespoons.
Once you combine everything, you’re pretty much done. Or, almost done:
The black sesame looked grainy, so I busted out the stick blender. It turns out that wasn’t necessary, but since it happened, I figured I should mention it.
I took one final page from Just One Cookbook and added a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Then it went into the fridge to chill/marinate overnight.
I started churning at 6:30am the next morning:
I’ll confess: the color came out more grey than black, but hey, it’s close enough for Halloween. I’ll discuss the results below.
Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream
Like many people over the age of 40, I usually learn about internet memes about 6 to 12 months after they’ve peaked. Thus, when I find them amusing and then attempt to deploy them around younger people, I look like a doofus. In the case of Pumpkin Spice Girl meme, however, it’s had enough staying power that I can use it and not feel like I’m hopelessly out of touch.
So yes, Pumpkin Spice Girl memes are still a thing, and it is that time of the year! So we’re making Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream!
The recipe comes from one of our favorites on this blog, Max Falkowitz.
You kick things off by steeping a vanilla bean in the milk and cream.
Once you’ve heated it a bit, you can set it aside to steep.
Next, you get the egg yolks ready by combining them with the pumpkin, sugar, and spices. The recipe calls for 8 egg yolks, which seems excessive, but Falkowitz’s previous recipes have been excellent, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
The scent emanating from that mixture on the bottom left was incredible. Like a freshly baked pumpkin bread.
As you might expect, I did not document the egg tempering process. Maybe I should hire an intern! I wonder if I might be able to interest a certain a 9-year-old…
Once you have the custard, you’re supposed to strain it into a bowl set inside an ice bath. Yet because I made this back-to-back with the Black Sesame, I didn’t prep things properly…meaning I wasn’t ready with an ice bath.
So did a makeshift ice bath by putting the pot into some cold water in the sink. After a few minutes of that, I strained it into a bowl. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As you can see above, you end up straining out a fair bit of pumpkin puree.
I chilled the mixture overnight and then churned it the following afternoon.
I considered using food dye for both flavors to achieve a classic black and orange color combo. But I had to settle for grey and brown.
The Results
Let’s start with the Pumpkin Spice. The flavor was good and it seemed quite popular with all the guests who tried it. Still, pumpkin spice is not my favorite flavor. For me, it’s one of those situation where the flavor smells better than it tastes.
But the flavor wasn’t really my issue. What I was most disappointed by was the consistency/texture. It wasn’t bad by any means. But there was a slight chalkiness/dryness to the texture that detracted from the overall experience. My best guess is that this was due to the pumpkin puree.
Given than I’m not a pumpkin spice fanatic, I’m not sure I would rush to make this ice cream again.
The Black Sesame, on the other hand, was outstanding. I think the guar gum worked wonders here, as the consistency was excellent: easy to scoop yet also rich and creamy. The texture was like store bought ice cream, and I mean that as the highest compliment (I feel like I’m repeating myself from an earlier blog post here).
The taste was just as good. Black sesame has a nuttiness remenisccent of peanut butter, but altogether unique. I also really appreciated Just One Cookbook’s inclusion of vanilla extract in the recipe, which for me helped to mellow the savory profile of the black sesame. About ten years ago, I made a black sesame ice cream, and the recipe I used at that time called for toasted sesame oil, which just ruined the overall taste for me. I’m glad I just used only the paste here, because it has a wonderful flavor that, while unfamiliar, was just delicious. And now that I have a massive jar of it sitting in the fridge, I have every reason to make more.
In the final analysis, both of these ice creams were successful, but Black Sesame was the clear winner. For some reason, at the back of my mind, I’d been assuming that custard recipes are just better for hommeade ice cream than stabilizer-based recipes like the one from Salt & Straw. After tasting them head-to-head, stabilizer based ice cream is the clear winner, at least for this round.
Okay, time to wrap this up. It’s about 10 days until Election Day, and like the rest of you, I’m going to be white-knuckling all the way to end, regardless of the outcome. I could go on at length about the election, but this post has already ballooned far beyond any reasonable length. I’m thinking I might make Rocky Road ice cream next week, because even if Trump loses (and my god, I hope he loses), the road ahead looks long and hard. We gonna need some chocolate.
Sending peace and love to you all. See you next week!
When I first moved to California, I recall many a native Californian extolling the virtues of the ballot initiative process, invoking arguments around direct democracy and “the people” having a say. But I ask you: can anyone still actually make this argument with a straight face in 2024? This year’s ballot, as an example, has 11 statewide propositions alone. Trying to sift through that much information makes it exceedingly difficult to make an informed decision. I consider myself pretty plugged in politically, and I still find filling out my ballot to be incredibly daunting. It’s no wonder that approximately 70% of Californians, despite supporting the initiative process overall, agree that there are “too many propositions on the state ballot” and that the “ballot wording is often too complicated and confusing.”
And that’s just the volume problem. I haven’t even mentioned how the initiative process rarely leads to progressive or populist results, especially economically. The unfortunate reality is that many voters are easily overwhelmed and easily swayed by political spending, leading to harmful outcomes. I wish that weren’t the case, but it is. The existence of Prop 13 alone should be enough to convince anyone of how easily the initiative process can be abused and commandeered to reactionary ends. And let’s not forget Prop 8 and Prop 62 and Prop 209 and Prop 229, etc.
To be clear: I’m not saying the ballot initiative process should be completely scrapped. I just think it needs to be limited. And yes, of course, I realize the prospect of this happening is unlikely. The initiative process is sacred to many Californians. Even if it’s true, you won’t get too far trying telling them that maybe, just maybe, it doesn’t serve the interests of ordinary people. You’d likely have better luck convincing your average Bay Area liberal that California is not actually all that progressive.
Anyway, when I started the blog, I promised there would be random political asides, and I’ve pretty much behaved myself up until this point. But given the occasion for which I made the ice cream, some political content felt warranted here.
Great post Heath. Rocky roads indeed.
Black sesame!! 🙏🙏