Green Tea Lychee Ice Cream
Lychee, if you’ve never had it, is an interesting little fruit that has a floral-like taste.
Michael is the one who picked up canned lychees with ice cream in mind, but he wasn’t around to experience it. Before Michael left for Chicago, we explored Hong Kong Market in Columbia. I usually go to Chong’s Oriental Market because it’s walkable from my house and where I work. Hong Kong Market is on the edge of town, but it is bigger, has a more options and is less expensive.
Anyway, we never got around to making lychee ice cream while Michael was still in town. A few weeks later, I decided to pair it with matcha (green tea) my sister brought home from Japan. I love the green tea ice cream at Sparky’s, and I’d been thinking about making matcha-mango ice cream until remembering the lychees that needed to be used.
The lychees gave the green tea a new dimension. Like I said, I find them to be almost floral. The flavors together make a nice, light finish to a meal or a not-too-sweet afternoon dessert.
It is National Ice Cream Month in the U.S., but of course we welcome everyone to celebrate with us. Any suggestions for new flavors we should create?
Green Tea Lychee Ice Cream
Modified from David Lebovitz‘s Green Tea Ice Cream in The Perfect Scoop
- 3 cups half and half
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 4 teaspoons matcha green tea powder
- 4 egg yolks (Lebovitz uses 6, which just seems like so much, although using more makes the ice cream richer and more custardy)
- 20 oz lychees, canned and seeded
- pinch of salt
Warm a cup of half and half, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Pour the rest of the half and half in a large bowl and whisk in the green tea powder. Set a mesh strainer on top.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and slowly pour the warm mixture, whisking constantly. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan and stir constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.
Pour the custard through the strainer and stir into the cream. Whisk vigorously until the custard is frothy and the green tea powder is disolved.
Puree the lychee with a splash of milk or half and half. Press through the strainer and stir into custard mixture. Allow to cool completely before freezing according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
Category: Recipes | Tags: dessert, green tea, ice cream, lychee 7 comments »
July 12th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Having never had lychees or anything made with matcha powder I can’t even imagine what this tastes like, but I would certainly give it a try~! It’s a long way from a peanut buster parfait lol
Thanks for stopping by my ice cream social! With all the ice cream at my house right now I will be eating a bowl a night for the whole month of ice cream!
July 12th, 2009 at 12:12 am
This is gorgeous. You should turn it in to TangledNoodles Ice Cream Social Challenge! GREG
July 13th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
yum. i love all things lychee…especially ice cream. i just had an iced green tea with canned lychees in it. so good. its funny that your sister got that green tea powder in japan cus the packaging is korean.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:13 am
I’ve never tried these two flavours together but I love them both so I think I’d adore this ice cream!
I used to love tinned lychees (with lots of the syrup of course) with ice cream as a child.
August 9th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I’m helping the folks at Matcha Source Green Tea (www.matchasource.com) introduce their products to bloggers. I really enjoyed your post, which is why I contacted you. If you send us an email at lewis@matchasource.com or info@matchasource.com, we can consider sending some complimentary products. A blog post about us would really be much appreciated. Thanks again for all your help
–Lewis
December 10th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
[...] idea of tea ice cream stuck. This summer I made green tea lychee and Thai iced tea [...]
August 11th, 2011 at 3:50 am
Really great post………love it…………very informative