This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/icecreamery by /u/TurtleScientific on 2023-10-15 18:06:45.

Looking to make this more a discussion and perhaps linking to any relevant science.

I love a good mint icecream, but also have begun diving into infusing other fresh and dried plant based materials (sage, basil, tea, etc.).

The issue is the recipes really vary when it comes to what product to use (fresh, dried, extract, paste, etc.), where to use it (base, milk, sugar, cream), and when to use it (cold steep with cream, warm brew with base, add to chilled base with churn). And often I see anecdotal comments from experience, chemistry/science, and a mix of best practices from other areas of cooking/baking/mixology. I HATE when a recipe uses a specific method without giving an explanation on why. Like my first mint recipe called to steep fresh mint for only 20 minutes (didn’t specify if using just leaves or leaves and stem, or if to muddle or cut the mint, etc.) and while I liked the resulting product, I wanted it to be more minty. So through 3 or 4 different attempts and reading many different opinions I developed a basic process that I believe gives best results. I’m curious if anyone else has any opinions or comments on the process or how they’ve adapted it to other plant products.

Example, Mint using Fresh Mint

I remove the leaves from the stems to reduce any bitter compounds that won’t contribute to mint flavor. I don’t cut, chop, or otherwise damage the leaves to avoid releasing bitter compounds or grassy notes. I cold steep in cream for 2 reasons, the first being that creams oil content will facillitate the infusion of mint oils in the leaves, and the cream is not exposed to heat like the rest of the base when disolving sugars as the heat also reduces the minty flavor in the leaves. I steep this for at least 24 hours, usually longer.

I use the method based on the “science” as i’ve been told. If I was low on time, I would consider blending mint into the base just before churning. I’ve only read of this method once, and it was used primarily to capture the fresh green natural coloring without making a bitter/grassy taste blending the leaves might produce otherwise if let to steep. I’ve also read cold steeping can be used for stone fruit (so like cherry pits!) and I imagine any oily compound (nuts too).