The flavor library
Flavors
Every great batch starts with one of four foundations. Get those right, and every other flavor is simply a delicious detour.
Always worth making
The big four
Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and coffee are classics for a reason. Each one teaches a technique you’ll use again and again.
Vanilla
Split a vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds and steep the pod in the warm milk and cream for 30 minutes before making the base. Using pure extract instead? Stir it in after cooking so the flavor stays bright.
Rinse the used pods and bury them in a jar of sugar.
Chocolate
Use cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate together. Cocoa brings deep, roasty flavor and chocolate brings richness and body. Whisk the cocoa into the hot base so it dissolves completely.
A pinch of salt makes chocolate taste more chocolatey.
Strawberry
Strawberries are mostly water, and water turns to ice. Roast or gently cook the berries with sugar and a squeeze of lemon to concentrate them, then purée. Fewer ice crystals, far more flavor.
Keep a few chopped berries back to fold in at the end.
Coffee
Lightly crush whole roasted beans and steep them in the warm milk and cream for about an hour, then strain. You get all of the aroma and none of the bitterness that brewed coffee can bring.
Decaf beans work just as well for a bedtime scoop.
The greatest hits
House specials
A set list of flavor ideas to try once you’ve nailed the basics. Every one starts from a base in the big four, and most of them now have a recipe of their own.
Technique spotlight
The chocolate fleck pour
Ever wondered how the best mint chip gets those delicate, melt-in-the-mouth flecks instead of waxy chunks? It’s called stracciatella, and it’s the easiest party trick in ice cream.
- Melt about 3 oz (85 g) of good dark chocolate, with a teaspoon of coconut oil if you like, and let it cool until just warm.
- When the ice cream is almost finished churning, drizzle the chocolate in a very thin stream straight into the moving machine.
- The cold ice cream sets the chocolate instantly, and the paddle shatters it into fine, crisp flecks.
- Try it with vanilla, coffee, mint, orange or raspberry. It works with almost anything.
Branch out
Flavor families
Every family has its own rules. Learn them once and you can make almost anything.
Fruit
Cook fruit down to drive off water, add a little lemon juice to wake it up and strain out any seeds. For ribbons of flavor, swirl a spoonful of thick, jammy fruit through the ice cream as you pack it away.
- Raspberry
- Blueberry
- Peach
- Mango
- Roasted banana
- Cherry
- Lemon curd
- Blackcurrant
- Rhubarb
Coffee & tea
Steep, don’t brew. Whole coffee beans and loose-leaf tea release their flavor beautifully into warm cream. Taste as you go, because tea turns bitter if it steeps too long. Matcha is the exception: whisk the powder straight into the base.
- Espresso
- Mocha
- Coffee toffee crunch
- Earl Grey
- Chai
- Matcha
- Jasmine
- Rooibos & honey
Nuts
Always toast nuts first. It makes a world of difference. Blend some into a smooth paste to flavor the base, then fold chopped, salted or candied pieces in at the end for crunch.
- Pistachio
- Hazelnut
- Butter pecan
- Almond praline
- Peanut butter swirl
- Maple walnut
- Macadamia
- Black sesame
Grown-up
Alcohol won’t freeze in a home freezer, so a little goes a long way. Around 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of spirits per quart (roughly a liter) of base keeps things soft and scoopable. Add much more and it may never set.
- Rum raisin
- Bourbon vanilla
- Chocolate stout
- Amaretto cherry
- Limoncello
- Coffee liqueur
- Gin & tonic sorbet
Other frozen things
Beyond ice cream
Not every frozen treat needs cream. Here’s how the family tree branches out.
Gelato
More milk and less cream than ice cream, churned slowly so less air gets in. It’s served a little warmer, so the texture is silky and the flavors feel intense.
Sorbet
Fruit, sugar and water, and no dairy at all. Sugar is the secret: too little and it sets like an ice cube, too much and it never firms up.
Sherbet
A sorbet with a splash of milk or buttermilk. Creamier than sorbet, lighter than ice cream, and perfect for citrus. (In Britain, sherbet usually means fizzy candy powder. This is the scoopable kind.)
Frozen yogurt
Tangy and refreshing. Use thick, full-fat yogurt for the creamiest result, and a spoonful of honey to help keep it scoopable.
Dairy-free
Full-fat coconut milk or cashew cream both churn beautifully. Coconut is rich enough to stand in for cream, and chocolate and tropical fruit flavors love it.
Honey-sweetened
Swap some or all of the sugar for honey. It freezes softer than sugar and brings its own floral flavor, so choose a honey you’d happily eat off the spoon.
Can’t find your flavor?
Dreamed up a combination nobody sells? Tell us about it. The most delicious suggestions might just earn a place in the Flavor Library.