Green Tea Ice Cream

Green tea ice cream is a very popular ice cream flavor in Japan and other parts of East Asia. Matcha (pronounced MA-CHA) is bright green in color and is made by finely grinding a very high quality tea called Gyokuro (pronounced GIL-KURO). Matcha has been around since the 12th century as a part of the “Japanese Tea Ceremony” otherwise called (chado or “The Way of Tea”).
 
Active preparation time: 30 minutes
Total start to finish: 5 hours (with freezing)
 
Recipe makes about 1 quart of ice cream, best used within one week
 
Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk (or 1 cup Half n’ Half for creamier consistency)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Matcha (powdered Japanese green tea) available at Teavana.com
Special equipment: an ice cream maker
 
Preparation
Bring cream, milk, and salt to a boil in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk together eggs, sugar, and Matcha in a bowl (tea will not be completely dissolved), then add 1 cup hot cream mixture in a slow stream, whisking vigorously.
Whisk custard into remaining cream mixture in saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer (do not let boil).
Immediately pour custard through a fine sieve into a metal bowl, cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Chill, covered, until cold, at least 1 hour.
Freeze in ice cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

 
For more information, see our New to Tea section, and learn more about tea.