MAKES A GENEROUS QUART
This is a very delicate ice cream that can be made with many types of exotic melons, but one that I find particularly nice with honeydew.
Choose a melon that is sweet and ripe but not so ripe that the flesh is watery, translucent, or mushy. To judge a melon for sweetness, smell the round spot opposite the stem end; it will taste exactly as sweet as it smells.
You will need a literal pound of flesh (melon flesh, that is) for this recipe. For safety, start with a melon that weighs nearly twice that amount. Use only the very sweet flesh, not the less flavorful layer that hugs the rind.
This ice cream won’t hold. Mix and freeze it in the morning for serving that night.
I landed on Taiwan in the early 70s with my American love of ice cream intact. Fortunately for my cravings, there was a small division of a West Coast creamery on the road to the Palace Museum. This wasn’t far from the U.S. military base in Taipei, and it was mostly filled with the families of soldiers—kids and their moms, seeming improbably plump and loud amidst the otherwise demure Chinese scene.
Until I was seduced by the Chinese diet, I made weekly pit stops to the place en route to study sessions at the Palace.
The shop was called “Blessings and Happiness,” foo-luh in Chinese—a phonetic interpretation of the West Coast dairy giant, Foremost. I indeed felt blessed, and was indeed very happy.
1 pound sweet honeydew flesh, cut into chunks
½ cup plus 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
2 cups half-and-half
About 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed ginger, lemon, or lime juice
1. Purée the melon and ½ cup sugar in a food processor, scraping down the bowl, as needed, until smooth.
2. Scrape the mixture into a non-aluminum bowl and stir in the half-and-half. Taste and adjust if and as needed with the additional sugar; the mixture should taste a touch too sweet at room temperature if it is to taste perfect when frozen. Add the ginger, lemon, or lime juice by ½ teaspoons until the flavor rounds on your tongue. Don’t be shy; splash in a bit more and watch the flavor grow.
3. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Store with a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface. Let soften slightly before serving.
Homemade ice cream is almost always superior to what you can buy in a store. Unlike big-time manufacturers, you don’t need to worry about stabilizers and price points, and you don’t need to make a buck on the amount of air in the bowl.
Also, if you’re after flavor (as opposed to sweetness and richness), you’re out of the mainstream of American society and require something special, something that you can’t find in a supermarket cooler but can easily whip up at home.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: I like this ice cream with cookies, particularly Crystallized Ginger Butter Squares (page 462). Another delicate butter cookie, a simple lemon cake, or a very thin caramelized apple tart would also partner it well.