Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream. The first blackberry I see every summer reminds me of one of my favorite moments with my grandpa while Friday campin’. He grabbed an old Folgers Coffee can and said, “Hey, let’s go find some blackberries. We gathered five berries over five hours. Grandma laughed but the blackberries never really mattered cuz it was the best day ever.
Everything blackberry is happy. Amirite? So today, in the spirit of an old Folger’s coffee can full of blackberries, I present thee with Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream.
Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream
Makes about three-fourths of a gallon of ice cream.
Blackberry Swirl
- 1 pound blackberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Toss blackberries into a medium saucepan. Add sugar, fresh lemon juice, salt, and cornstarch. Set aside for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to allow sugar to draw out the juices from the berries. Smash blackberries as much as you like (or not) with a potato masher.
After the sugar has drawn out the juices from the berries, evaluate if you have 2 or 3 cups of liquid in the pan. If it looks more like 3, stir in one more tablespoon of cornstarch before heating. No need to stress too much about adding more, though, as you can always stir in a little water after it thickens to make the sauce the consistency you like.
Allow blackberry sauce to cool to room temperature. If making a day or more ahead, you can refrigerate.
Vanilla Ice Cream
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 4 1/2 cups milk
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 10-pound bag ice cubes, for chilling
- 3 cups Ice cream salt, for chilling
Put all ingredients into the ice cream canister and stir well. Place the blade in and lid on the canister tightly so that no ice cream salts get inside.
Finish putting the ice cream maker together completely. Plugin the machine to make sure everything is set up correctly. If successful, unplug for now and go to the next step.
Place ice all around the bottom of the canister. Carefully pour a layer of ice cream salt over the ice. Continue these layers until you reach the top of the canister. Plug the ice cream maker in again and allow it to churn until it stops (or almost stops) on its own. This will take about 20-40 minutes.
After the vanilla ice cream is done churning, quickly layer ice cream and blackberry swirl into a large container.
You can serve right away, but it is best to freeze in an air-tight container for a couple of hours first so the ice cream can firm up.
Blackberry ice cream and memories of grandpa… melts my heart.