Poppy seed ice cream

The flavour of poppy seed buns and cakes in an ice cream: ground poppy seeds steeped in milk, with lemon zest.

Few ingredients belong to Slovak and Czech cooking the way poppy seeds do — and they taste surprisingly good in ice cream. The ground poppy seeds are briefly simmered in milk, where they soften and release their nutty flavour into the fat. They stay in the ice cream, giving it a delicate, slightly grainy texture and a blue-grey colour. Lemon zest and a pinch of cinnamon recall poppy seed cake.

Type: Classic cream ice cream · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 550 g whole milk 3.5 %
  • 300 g whipping cream 33 %
  • 20 g skimmed milk powder
  • 60 g ground poppy seed (freshly ground)
  • 140 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 35 g dextrose (glucose powder)
  • 3 g grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
  • 0.5 g ground cinnamon (optional, a pinch)

Making the mix

  1. Mix the milk powder and dextrose with the granulated sugar.
  2. Bring the milk and poppy seeds to the boil and simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
  3. Add the cream, the sugar mixture and the lemon zest (and the cinnamon) and stir until the sugars dissolve. Take off the heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.
  4. Cool the mix quickly in a bowl set in iced water.
  5. Cover and age in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch on the ice cream maker 5–10 minutes ahead so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Pour in the chilled mix no higher than the fill line (with a smaller bowl, churn in two batches) and churn for 30–40 minutes, until it has the consistency of thick whipped cream.
  3. Transfer to a chilled container, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for 2 hours.

Total time: 7 h 50 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

  1. Take the frozen bowl out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
  2. With the machine running, pour in the chilled mix — no more than two-thirds full; freeze the rest as a second batch.
  3. Churn for 20–30 minutes, until the ice cream thickens. There’s no point going longer — by then the bowl has warmed up.
  4. Transfer to a chilled container and leave to harden in the freezer for 3 hours.

Freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours beforehand (until you can no longer hear the coolant sloshing inside). The mix must be thoroughly chilled.

Total time: 8 h 40 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

  1. Divide the chilled mix between CREAMi tubs, filling each no higher than the MAX line (a full batch makes about two standard tubs).
  2. Put the lids on and freeze on a level surface for 24 hours.
  3. Place a tub in the machine and run the Ice Cream program.
  4. If the ice cream is crumbly or powdery, run Re-spin (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk first).

Programme: Ice Cream

A standard tub holds about 470 ml, a Deluxe tub about 700 ml. Don’t fill above the MAX line, and freeze it level — the machine doesn’t handle an uneven block well.

Total time: 29 h 20 min

Method — No-machine method

  1. Pour the chilled mix into a deep metal or glass container (a baking dish, for example) and put it in the freezer.
  2. After 45 minutes, stir the mix thoroughly with a whisk, spatula or stick blender, working the frozen edges into the centre.
  3. Repeat every 30 minutes, 4–5 times in all, until the ice cream is thick and smooth.
  4. Leave to harden for another hour.

Without a machine you get more ice crystals and less air, so the ice cream is denser. Every stir breaks up the crystals, so don’t skip any.

Total time: 9 h 15 min

Stages

Preparation
10 min
Cooking
15 min
Resting
20 min
Cooling
30 min
Ageing in the fridge
4 h
Churning
35 min
Hardening in the freezer
2 h
Total time
7 h 50 min

Serving and storage

With sour cherry or plum compote, lekvár (thick plum jam), or as a scoop alongside warm steamed buns.

In a sealed container with cling film pressed onto the surface it’s best within a week; after that, ice crystals start to build up. Never refreeze ice cream that has melted.

Tips

  • Buy poppy seeds freshly ground or grind them yourself — old ground poppy seeds quickly turn rancid and bitter and will ruin the ice cream.
  • Stir the mix before churning; the poppy seeds tend to sink to the bottom.
  • You can replace some of the sugar with 40 g of honey — it will taste even more like poppy seed pastries (not for babies under 1 year old).

Why it works

Poppy seeds are about 40 % fat and high in fibre. The fat enriches the ice cream and the fibre binds water much like a stabiliser, so poppy seed ice cream is full-bodied and melts slowly, even without eggs.

Sources