Nutmeg ice cream

Ingredients

Custard

• 500 mlwhole milk
• 400 mlevaporated milk
• 6egg yolks
• 150 gcaster sugar
• 1 tin(397 g) sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ tspfine salt

Spice and flavour

• 2whole Grenadian nutmegs, freshly grated (about 2 tbsp)
• 1blade of mace
• 1cinnamon leaf or a small stick of cinnamon
• 1 tspvanilla essence
• 2 tbspdark Grenadian rum, optional but traditional
• 2strips of lime peel

Churning

• 1hand-crank bucket churn, or an ice cream machine
• 3 kgcrushed ice and 500 g coarse rock salt, if using the bucket churn

Directions

1. Warm the milk and evaporated milk in a heavy pan with the mace, cinnamon leaf, lime peel and half the grated nutmeg, until it steams but does not boil.
2. Take it off the heat, cover, and leave to infuse for 20 minutes. The spices need time in the fat to give up their perfume.
3. Whisk the yolks with the sugar and salt until pale and thick enough to ribbon off the whisk.
4. Strain the warm spiced milk, then pour it slowly onto the yolks, whisking all the time so they do not scramble.
5. Return the mixture to the pan over low heat and stir constantly with a spatula, scraping the base, for 8–10 minutes until it thickens to a custard that coats the back of the spoon and holds a clean line when you draw a finger through it, around 82°C (180°F).
6. Strain into a cold bowl, whisk in the condensed milk, the vanilla, the rum and the remaining fresh nutmeg, then cool over iced water.
7. Chill the base thoroughly for at least 4 hours, or overnight. A cold base churns faster and freezes with smaller crystals.
8. Churn: in a bucket churn, pack crushed ice and rock salt in alternating layers around the canister and crank steadily for 25–35 minutes; in a machine, churn 20–25 minutes until it thickens to soft-serve.
9. Scrape into a chilled tub, grate a little more nutmeg across the surface, press greaseproof paper onto the top and freeze for at least 4 hours to firm.
10. Soften 5 minutes at room temperature before scooping and grate fresh nutmeg over each serving.

Technique

• Grate the nutmeg fresh and add half of it off the heat. Cooking destroys the top notes, so the raw addition at the end is what makes the ice cream smell like the Spice Isle.
• Condensed and evaporated milk are not shortcuts here; Caribbean ice cream has been built on tinned milk for a century, and they give the dense, slightly caramelised body that defines the style.
• The rock salt in the bucket churn does not touch the ice cream. It lowers the melting point of the ice so the brine drops well below zero and the canister freezes.
• A little rum lowers the freezing point and keeps the ice cream scoopable straight from a home freezer, but more than a couple of tablespoons stops it setting.

Substitutions

• No churn at all: freeze the base in a shallow tray and beat it hard with a fork every 40 minutes for 3 hours, or fold the cooled custard into 300 ml of whipped double cream and freeze without stirring.
• No fresh nutmeg: use 1 tbsp of ground nutmeg, added entirely off the heat, and accept a flatter aroma.

Variations

• Grenadian nutmeg and cinnamon-leaf ice cream, the classic island pairing.
• Nutmeg ice cream served with warm nutmeg syrup made from the candied husk.
• Soursop or guava ice cream, made on the same tinned-milk base with fresh nutmeg grated over.

History

An ice cream flavoured with fresh nutmeg, developed in Grenada, an island whose economy and culinary identity became deeply tied to nutmeg cultivation after the spice was introduced there in the 1840s, eventually making Grenada one of the world’s largest nutmeg producers and earning it the nickname the Spice Isle. Nutmeg‘s centrality to Grenadian identity extends even onto the national flag, which features a stylized nutmeg pod, reflecting the crop’s outsized economic and cultural significance to the small island nation. Nutmeg ice cream, along with numerous other nutmeg-infused local products, developed as a way to showcase the island’s signature crop in a format appealing to both residents and the many visitors drawn to Grenada specifically because of its nutmeg heritage.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nutmeg ice cream?

Nutmeg ice cream is a dessert from Grenada: spice Isle ice cream perfumed with fresh nutmeg. An ice cream flavoured with fresh nutmeg, developed in Grenada, an island whose economy and culinary identity became deeply tied to nutmeg cultivation after the spice was introduced there in the 1840s, eventually making Grenada one of the world’s largest nutmeg producers and earning it the nickname the Spice Isle. Nutmeg’s centrality to Grenadian identity extends even onto the national flag, which features a stylized nutmeg pod, reflecting the crop’s outsized economic and cultural significance to the small island nation. Nutmeg ice cream, along with numerous other nutmeg-infused local products, developed as a way to showcase the island’s signature crop in a format appealing to both residents and the many visitors drawn to Grenada specifically because of its nutmeg heritage.

How long does Nutmeg ice cream take to make?

Nutmeg ice cream takes 25 min of preparation and 40 min, plus 6 hr freezing of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings (about 1 litre). It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Nutmeg ice cream?

Yes, within limits. No churn at all: freeze the base in a shallow tray and beat it hard with a fork every 40 minutes for 3 hours, or fold the cooled custard into 300 ml of whipped double cream and freeze without stirring. No fresh nutmeg: use 1 tbsp of ground nutmeg, added entirely off the heat, and accept a flatter aroma.

What is the most important thing to get right in Nutmeg ice cream?

Strain the warm spiced milk, then pour it slowly onto the yolks, whisking all the time so they do not scramble.