Black Walnut Ice Cream
Nov 6th, 2011 | By Hank Shaw | Category: Foraging, Recipe | Comments | 15 Comments |
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
There is absolutely nothing like this ice cream. Black walnuts are so much more flavorful than regular walnuts that you will be blown away by this recipe. I harvest my own black walnuts, but you can buy black walnuts onlineas well.
The reason this recipe is so good is because I do a black walnut double-dip: First I infuse the cream with the nuts, which gives it flavor and a little color, and then you add those walnuts back in the final ice cream, which is itself enriched by several egg yolks. It’s roll-your-eyes-back-in-your-head good.
Can you use regular walnuts to make this ice cream? Yes, but it will not be the same. Nothing beats wild walnuts.
black walnut ice cream
Makes about a quart.
Prep Time: 8 hours, mostly unattended
Cook Time: 15 minutes
- 2 cups cream
- 2 cups milk
- 2/3 cup black walnuts, roughly chopped
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
- 4-5 egg yolks
- Heat the cream, milk, sugar and walnut pieces in a heavy-bottomed pot to 170 degrees, or to the point at which it steams but does not simmer. Turn off the heat, add the vanilla bean and the scraped insides of the bean, stir well and cover. Let this cool for 1 hour.
- Move the mixture to a container and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or up to overnight.
- Strain the mixture to remove the vanilla bean and the walnut pieces. Reserve the walnut pieces and set them in the fridge.
- Heat the strained mixture to 160 degrees. As it is heating, beat the egg yolks to combine. When the cream has hit its temperature, you will need to temper your eggs so they don’t scramble. One hand holds a ladle, the other whisks the egg yolks: Pour in a little hot cream with one hand, whisking vigorously with the other. Pour in 2 ladles full, then pour the egg-cream mixture into the pot and stir well. Cook this gently, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Do not let it simmer.
- Strain this one more time before putting into the ice cream maker. Churn it until it has the consistency of soft-serve ice cream, then remove to a large bowl and gently fold in the reserved black walnut pieces. Freeze and eat!
More Black Walnut Recipes
More Recipes for Sweets and Syrups
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My favorite ice cream, too. But lately, I’ve been adding porcini powder to the mix.
Dentist’s delight, black walnuts! No matter how hard I try to keep pieces of shell out of the meats I always seem to chomp down on one in Sarah’s ice box cookies. I have learned to chomp gingerly. How do you manage to stay shell fragment-free, especially since the meat is such a small part of the whole nut?
Reminds me of when steel shot became mandatory for widlfowl,and soft lead shot was outlawed. My brother said to his dentist, “I bet you get a lot of new work out of people breaking teeth on steel,” to which the dentist said “Naw, I doubt it.” Fast forward a year, and the dentist tells tony, “You know, you were right! I am getting a lot of new trade from broken teeth!”
P S Welcome Home, I hope!
I just harvested my own black walnuts also. Agreed that is one tough nut to crack! My grandfathers favorite ice cream was black walnut!
E.A.T.
I so miss my black walnut trees! They were a pain in the patootie (especially for my husband when he mowed), but so worth it. I need to find someone who has a tree. The ice cream looks absolutely amazing, definitely eye-roll back in the head level.
Oh yum! My mouth is watering! That icecream sounds drooling good! Can just taste it! Wish I was there to share some with you!
So excited to see this recipe! Just finished husking a huge load of foraged black walnuts (table vise, rubber gloves) and wondering how long they need to dry in the shell…? Thanks, Hank!
We go foraging for black walnuts in October when they fall from the trees. Usually let them dry outside, then long about January when the snow begins to fly we spend evenings banging them open as a family project. Nothing better for baked goods!
That sounds so good… I wonder if there are still any black walnuts on the trees. Somehow I never find any if I’m looking for them. If I go out hunting mushrooms, I’ll find a bunch of walnuts instead!
I must make this because I have black walnuts and don’t know what to do with them! It sounds delicious.
I cracked one of my black walnuts and the nut meat seemed very wet, so I’m hoping for a tip on how long to dry these in the shell once they’ve been husked. Thank you!
We let ours dry for 3 weeks after husking, seems to work very well! The nut should break with a bit of a snap, that’s how you know they’re done. Trying out this ice cream today or tomorrow, looking forward to our first taste!
Butter: Porcini powder in walnut ice cream? Intriguing…
Peter: You do need to be pretty careful about shells. I get about 99% of them, but yeah, a stray bit will show up now and again.
Great recipe!
I have collected black walnuts (or Mexican walnuts, not sure, here we call them jailed nuts, while pecans we call them just nuts) before, but never tried something with them. Will try to find some and do this.
Thanks!
Until I made this ice cream I thought black walnut pie was the best dessert I ever put in my mouth. It’s absolutely delicious, and this recipe has changed th way I will make all flavors of ice cream
Thanks!