Damson yogurt ice


	Damsons in a pale grey bowl by Elda Abramson available as a print from Pauntley Prints

Taken from "Vegetable Heaven" by Catherine Mason
(Pauntley Prints, 2002, ISBN: 0-9534879-3-6, price £20.00)
[other sample recipes]

300 g damsons
150 g caster sugar
450 g Greek yogurt
150 ml single cream

Wash the damsons and place in a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring occasionally, and cook for about 10 minutes until the fruit is tender. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Place the fruit in a food processor and whiz briefly on a slow setting. The idea is to detach the damson flesh without actually breaking the stones or the food processor. Add the yogurt and cream and whiz briefly.
Now press this mixture through a coarse nylon sieve using the back of a spoon, leaving just the stones behind. Still freeze according to the instructions below or churn in an ice cream machine.

SERVES 4–6

How to make ices by hand

(taken from page 149 of Vegetable Heaven)

Home-made ices have an intensity that you rarely find in their shop-bought counterparts. Commerce dictates too long a shelf life and flavour diminishes over time, even in the best storage conditions. Fruit-based ices are particularly susceptible to this, I have found, and all the ices included here are best consumed within about 48 hours of making. They don't go off but the intensity of flavour diminishes quite quickly.

All the following recipes can be made in an ice cream machine if you own one, however, you don't need a machine to make good home-made ice creams or sorbets. It helps if you have an electric food mixer or a food processor, although again neither is essential – you can get by with just a fork. You will also need a wide shallow plastic or stainless steel dish or tray, preferably with a lid, that will fit in your freezer.

The single most important factor for success is probably the speed at which freezing takes place. This is influenced both by the temperature of your freezer and the size of the container holding the mixture. The faster that freezing happens, the smaller the ice crystals and the better the texture of the finished product, so if your freezer has a fast-freeze facility it's a very good idea to use it. It usually has to be turned on a few hours in advance to allow the temperature to fall.

Make your sorbet or ice cream mixture according to the individual recipe instructions and chill thoroughly before freezing. Pour the mixture into a wide, shallow dish, cover with foil or a lid and put it in the coldest part of the freezer. After 1 to 2 hours, the mixture will have started to freeze around the edges. The speed at which this happens depends on the efficiency of your freezer, the size of dish used and so on, so the timings given are approximate. Check after an hour, as you need to catch the mixture at the right moment when some ice has formed but before it is entirely solid.

Remove the dish from the freezer and beat the contents vigorously to break up the ice crystals. Use a food mixer or processor if you have one, otherwise an egg-beater or a fork. Return the dish to the freezer and repeat the beating twice more at 30 to 60 minute intervals.

To serve the ice immediately, return it to the freezer for about half an hour after its final beating to firm up. Most ices that have been in the freezer for several hours will need to be placed in a fridge to soften slightly for about half an hour before serving, although ices containing alcohol are usually soft enough to serve straight from the freezer.