Black Sesame is my favorite Ice Cream flavor (if done right). It’s a bit less mainstream than Green Tea Ice Cream, but some of the fancier Japanese restaurants serve it, and I could never pass on dessert if it’s on the menu! The taste is hard to describe – creamy, sweet and a tad savory at the same time. It’s often described as having a nutty and earthy flavor, and that’s true but I love it even though I’m not a huge fan of nuts. The key ingredient, Japanese black sesame paste (“Neri-goma”) is a thick sweet black paste which is sold in most any grocery store in Japan. It’s also available outside of Japan in Japanese grocery stores and online, but I hear it’s very easy to make at home, so that’ll be on my to-do list to try out.
Black Sesame Ice Cream
Servings 1 pints
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons Japanese black sesame paste “Neri-goma”
- 3 large egg yolks
- black sesame for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Chill the bowl of the ice cream maker in the freezer for 24 hours.
Prepare the black sesame mixture
- Add the milk, heavy cream, sugar, salt and black sesame paste into a medium saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until the sugar and black sesame are evenly dissolved and the milk starts to simmer and foam. Stir often with a whisk and make sure that the milk does not boil.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks.
- Slowly add the milk mixture to the eggs, 1/2 cup at a time, whisking constantly to ensure that the eggs don’t curdle.
- Once the milk mixture is fully incorporated into the eggs, return the mixture to the saucepan and heat over medium heat. Continuously stir, until thickened.
- Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath for a medium bowl.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the black sesame mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl.
- Place the bowl with the mixture into the ice bath.
- When the mixture has cooled down, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or overnight if possible.
Churn and freeze the ice cream
- Once the mixture is thoroughly chilled, pour the mixture into the pre-chilled bowl of the ice cream maker.
- Churn for 25 minutes, or according to the manufacturer’s directions.
- Transfer the soft ice cream into an airtight container and chill in the freezer for at least 3 hours, or overnight if possible.