Italian Ice Cream

Photo: flickr user stu_spivack

Ingredients

none

Preparation

Each recipe makes two cups of Italian ice. If you want to make more or less than that, just multiply or divide the ingredients. In the column headings, "fruit" refers to juice or puree of that fruit; "lemon" means lemon juice. Make sure the sugar is dissolved before you pop these in the freezer. The traditional method is to simmer the sugar and water for a few minutes, but stirring sugar into tap water (hot or cold) works just as well. Hard ices should be stirred every 15-30 minutes in the freezer to keep crystal size down, and to minimize the formation of liquid syrup puddles.

McGee lists recipes for both "fruit" and "water" ices; the former have just fruit, lemon, and sugar, while the latter are diluted somewhat with water. I'm just listing the water ices, since the fruit ices can get expensive- a pint of raspberries will make a quart of soft water ice, but only 1 1/3 pints of soft fruit ice. Soft ices are about twice as sweet as hard ices.

Recipes can be combined (within the same texture type) in various proportions; McGee says that blackberry-pear is pretty good. He also notes that avocado ices are a little too rich when made plain, but add a nice creamy texture when combined with other fruits (about 1:3 avocado: other fruit).

The "water" listing in the fruit column is for ices made with water-based flavours, like coffee or tea (herbal or not); wine might be a possibility. The "melon" listing isn't too clear; by process of elimination, it's for any melon that isn't cantaloupe, but I've gotten Italian-ice-like results from cutting watermelon into chunks and freezing them. You don't have to haul out other ingredients, but you do have to spit out seeds.

In the soft ice table, there're a lot of "2+" listings for tablespoons of lemon juice. More than 2 T will put a definite lemon flavor into the ice; if you're not sure about how much to use, taste the mixture before freezing.

HARD ICESFruit Sugar Lemon Water apple 1 C 6 T 2 T 3/4 C apricot 1 7 1 3/4 avocado 1 8 2 3/4 banana 1 5 2 3/4 blackberry 1 7 2 3/4 black currant 3/4 7 0 1 blueberry 1 6 2 3/4 cactus pear 1 6 2 3/4 cherry 1 5 2 3/4 cranberry 3/4 8 0 1 fig 1 5 2 3/4 gooseberry 1 6 1 3/4 grape 1 5 2 3/4 grapefruit 1 7 0 3/4 guava 1 7 2 3/4 kiwi fruit 3/4 6 0 1 lemon 1/2 8 0 1 1/4 lime 1/2 8 0 1 1/4 litchi 1 5 2 3/4 mango 1 6 2 3/4 melon 1 6 2 3/4 cantaloupe 1 7 2 3/4 orange 1 6 2 3/4 papaya 1 6 2 3/4 passion fruit 3/4 7 0 1 peach 1 6 2 3/4 pear 1 6 2 3/4 persimmon 1 5 2 3/4 pineapple 1 5 2 3/4 plum 1 6 2 3/4 pomegranate 1 5 2 3/4 raspberry 1 7 2 3/4 red currant 1 7 1 3/4 strawberry 1 7 2 3/4 tomato 1 8 2 3/4 water 1 8 0-3 3/4

SOFT ICESFruit Sugar Lemon Water apple 1 C 11 T 2+ T 1/2 C apricot 1 12 2 1/2 avocado 3/4 14 2+ 3/4 banana 1 10 2+ 1/2 blackberry 1 12 2 1/2 black currant 3/4 13 0 3/4 blueberry 1 12 2+ 1/2 cactus pear 1 12 2+ 1/2 cherry 1 11 2+ 1/2 cranberry 3/4 13 0 3/4 fig 1 10 2+ 1/2 gooseberry 1 12 1 1/2 grape 1 10 2+ 1/2 grapefruit 1 13 0 1/2 guava 1 12 2+ 1/2 kiwi fruit 3/4 12 0 3/4 lemon 1/2 14 0 1 lime 1/2 14 0 1 litchi 1 10 2+ 1/2 mango 1 12 2+ 1/2 melon 1 12 2+ 1/2 cantaloupe 1 13 2+ 1/2 orange 1 12 2+ 1/2 papaya 1 12 2+ 1/2 passion fruit 3/4 13 0 3/4 peach 1 12 2+ 1/2 pear 1 12 2+ 1/2 persimmon 1 11 2+ 1/2 pineapple 1 11 2+ 1/2 plum 1 12 2 1/2 pomegranate 1 11 2+ 1/2 raspberry 1 12 2 1/2 red currant 1 13 1 1/2 strawberry 1 12 2 1/2 tomato 1 13 2+ 1/2 water 3/4 14 0-2+ 3/4