Fig Leaf Icecream

My friends gave me a little fig tree for my birthday so I decided to make ice cream. With the fig leaves! This aroma is very special, it tastes like picking fresh figs from a tree in summer vacation and eating them under its branches.

I also made a very green oil out of the leaves which tastes incredibly delicious. You can add a drizzle to the ice cream (tastewise you don’t really need it because the ice cream itself tastes so good already, but it looks very fancy) or use it for other dishes.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Fig leaf ice cream
and fig leaf oil

for the icecream

3 fig leaves (about 15cm long)
500ml milk
330g cream
140g sugar
2 Tbsp glucose (if you cannot find glucose, use corn syrup or honey)
1 heaped Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp cream cheese
a generous pinch of salt

for the oil

200ml neutral oil, like rapeseed or sunflower oil
3-4 fig leaves

For the ice cream base add the milk and cream to a pot. (Reserve 3 Tblsp of it and mix it with your starch). Add the sugar and glucose and your fig leaves and gently heat it. Simmer for a few minutes. Take off the heat, add your starch and heat again while whisking until you see bubbles and your mixture thickens. Take off the heat. Mix the cream cheese and salt in bowl, then add your hot mixture to it and mix well. (Taste your mix. If the fig leaf aroma is strong enough, remove the leaves, if you like it to be more intensive, leave the leaves in while cooling your mixture down.)

Transfer to a container and let it cool down in an icebath or covered in your fridge.

Poor the cold mix in your ice cream machine and follow its instructions.

For the fig leaf oil, add the neutral oil and leaves to a blender and mix for about 5-10 minutes. While mixing, the oil will heat up through friction. It should reach 60°C. Strain through a fine sieve. You can keep the oil in the fridge for several months.

Tip: I like to add a little teaspoon of the remaining pulp from the oil to my ice cream base, so it turns into a light green

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