Blueberry-Lemon Kefir Ice Cream

Kefir Ice Cream Rocks!  No really- it does.  Since the Kefir grains need to be fed fresh milk each day, an abundance of Kefir builds up weekly.  Therefore, a batch of fresh Kefir ice cream is always in order.  Today we experimented with blueberries.

Blueberry-Lemon Kefir Ice Cream
2 cups Kefir
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. Lemon juice or Lemon Zest

Mix eggs & sugar.  Then add Kefir & heavy cream.  Chop fresh or frozen blueberries in food processor.  Then add blueberries to cream, sugar & egg mixture.  Add the lemon juice.  Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and churn for 15 minutes or until thickened to a soft serve consistency.  Eat immediately as a soft serve or place in a freezer safe container and chill until desired hardness.

Tastes delicious!  I imagine it would taste even more amazing using fresh lemon zest/ juice.  Another keeper of an ice cream recipe.  The consistency was perfect, considering our strawberry (fruit) ice cream usually comes out more hard and icy, rather than creamy.

Strawberry Kefir Ice Cream- A Tastey Kefir Recipe

Another taste of Summer- Strawberry Kefir Ice Cream

Once one starts making Kefir, you have to "feed" your Kefir grains with new milk just about every day.  The reason is that the Kefir grains feed on the lactose in the milk.  This explains why Kefir is pretty much 99% lactose free; a great alternative for those lactose intolerant folks out there.  Once a batch of milk is finished making Kefir, it's time to strain out the grains, store the kefir in the refrigerator, and then supply the grains with new milk.  A new batch every day really adds up to quite a supply of Kefir, unless you have your whole household enjoying kefir.  At Redwoodshire, I have been adding Kefir to anything that calls for dairy.  Last week, I had to put the grains to "sleep" in the fridge for a few days, so that I could use up the surplus of kefir I had made.  

When you have a lot of Kefir on hand, it's time to find some new recipes to use the kefir up!  This morning I made some delicious Strawberry Kefir Ice Cream from a recipe that came in my email from Cultures for Health.

Ingredients:

2 cups Kefir

1 cup Heavy Cream

2 eggs

3/4 cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup crushed strawberries

A gift from the Laird many many years ago!
It has been used to make many batches
of wonderful ice cream.

First beat the eggs and mix with sugar.  Then add kefir, heavy cream, and vanilla.  Crush strawberries and add 1 cup to the cream mixture.  Then add to ice cream maker.  We use a Rival Ice Cream Maker- where the whole base is frozen in the freezer.  Churn for 20-25 minutes, or until thickened.  Enjoy as soft serve or place in a airtight storage container and freeze until hardened.  

This ice cream is so delicious, and it's full of the healthful probiotics of Kefir!  It can be enjoyed straight out of the ice cream maker with a soft serve consistency, or it can be placed in the freezer to harden.  I was not sure what to expect for taste, since Kefir is somewhat sour- but we were amazingly surprised.  It tastes a bit like Strawberry Frozen Yogurt- though I haven't had frozen yogurt in ages.  

Another great Taste of Summer!