Southerners love buttermilk and use it in everything from fried chicken to salad dressings to cakes. A friend of mine from Alabama told me that one of her favorite childhood snacks was crumbling stale leftover corn bread into a cold glass of buttermilk and eating it with a spoon. This ice cream is a delicious, tangy, no-cook treat. You can always change up the fruit, depending on what's in season. I often make this with fresh peaches, scraped vanilla beans, and sometimes fresh basil leaves. I added balsamic vinegar on a whim to the cherries in this recipe and really love the slight earthy hint it offers.

Ingredients

  • 14 ounces cherries, pitted
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, shaken
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 vanilla bean or 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons good-quality thick balsamic vinegar (optional)

Directions

Puree the cherries in a food processor (this should yield about 1 1/4 cups). Pour the cherries into a large bowl; add the buttermilk, cream, sugar, salt, and lemon juice. Scrape the vanilla seeds into the mixture, or stir in the vanilla extract, and add the balsamic vinegar, if using. Stir to combine.

Chill for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator. Process in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. This ice cream will keep frozen for up to 1 week.


Makes about 1 1/2 quarts

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Submitted 5/21/14.
Source: A Mouthful of Stars: A Constellation of Favorite Recipes from My World Travels by Kim Sunee
Submitted By: b smith

Buttermilk-Cherry-Balsamic Ice Cream