It takes Alchemy to
make great ice cream. I know.
I'm an Ice Cream snob.
I grew up eating good ice cream. It's the one thing I would always choose over
anything else including an ice-cold martini.
A self-anointed ice
cream expert who has tried just about every flavor out there, I keep going back
and forth as to what my favorite flavor is exactly.
Today it's lemon
because I frankly can't find a single lemon in the city of San Miguel.
So much for making it
today.
I have a long history
with ice cream. My daily obsession back in the late 60's was Bing's Flan de
Limon. In fact, Bing's Ice Cream was reason enough to be living in Guadalajara
as far as I was concerned.
Last year, when I came
to San Miguel, I was suffering from ice cream withdrawal after a few months.
Actually, I was pretty surprised I made it that long.
The Mexican ice creams
from the street carts just didn't do it for me.
I was an addict on a
mission to find "real" ice cream.
So what is
"real" ice cream? Well, how many times have you sat down with a spoon
and polished off a tub in one sitting and wouldn't share it with anyone? That's
"real" ice cream.
Here's some of what
makes it so delicious...
Butterfat Content
The butterfat factor
is one of the most important factors which defines great ice cream. Premium ice
cream contains anywhere between 13% to 17% butterfat.
High Quality
Ingredients
Ice cream is only as
good as the ingredients used to make it. In other words, high quality ice
creams are made with high quality ingredients.
Mix-Ins
Remember your ice
cream takes on a whole new flavor and texture dimension when you add mix-ins.
Air
Ice cream has air
whipped in. The less air added, the higher the quality. High quality brands may
cost more but you're paying for more air if you buy a less expensive brand.
When Thrifty came to
SMA last year, I was at their shop the day they opened. They used imported
ingredients and added chunks of fruit and cookie pieces to their ice cream. In
fact, Thrifty contains 10.25 percent butterfat so by Mexican standards it's
pretty rich.
For awhile, I stopped
obsessing about ordering an ice cream maker from Amazon and was content to walk
the 2 km just to get a square scoop which ran 27 pesos or $2.11. My ice cream
habit suddenly got a lot cheaper.
When I first did a
post on Thrifty, the owner of Ambrosia emailed me and told me that Ambrosia was
the only ice cream in San Miguel that was made with all natural ingredients.
In fact, if I had
known then what I know now - they grow their own fruit and painstaking pay
attention to each and every flavor - this love affair with Ambrosia would
have started a long time ago.
Never mind that I've
eaten Ambrosia a dozen or more times at many of the restaurants in town I
frequent. I just never paid attention. In fact, my favorite dessert, the Salted
Caramel Sundae at the Restaurant is made with a special order Ambrosia.
Once I found this out,
I bought a carton of each flavor at Via Organica and Bonanza. I couldn't get
enough. At this point, I was just making up for lost time.
Having mastered the
art of making ice cream at home, there is one thing I learned early on: Vanilla
is the benchmark and basis of all other flavors. If you can make a great vanilla,
then you can make anything.
Ambrosia's vanilla was
finally under the microscope and the first spoonful earned a moment of silence.
This was the perfect
ice cream ... right here under my nose all along!
Buen Apetito!