Tutti Frutti Ice Cream

I've wanted some ice cream like I used to buy as a kid.

In Battersea High Street there was an Italian ice cream shop which I remember. I new it as Notarianni's but it was Notarianni & Son
 

The window on the left had changed, but used to be a sash window that would slide up and from where they would serve the ice cream. They even had their own van that would tour the local streets during the summer. Mr Softee, Mr Whippy and Tonibell took over mobile market and sadly now the shop has now closed and this fantastic shop front has gone.

Back in the late 50's the ice cream was white and would often have a few crystals of ice in it. The vanilla was intense and my favorite. There were few flavours on offer, Chocolate, Strawberry,  but others I liked where Raspberry ripple, with it sharp fruit flavour, Tutti Frutti with its candied fruit and angelica and Rum & Raisin with its hint of warming rum and sweet juicy raisins.

Sadly Supermarkets no longer stock Tutti Frutti or Raspberry Ripple and rarely Rum & Raisin. Vanilla ice cream has become frozen vanilla custard. The move to soft scoop ice cream that now does not contain any dairy products (UK), let alone cream (in the US min 10% milk fat) has left me no alternative than to make my own. So I bought an ice cream maker.

The first ice cream I made I used the recipe that came with the machine. The result was some very nice ice cream, but the vanilla had to overcome the unmistakable custard taste and colour.

In this day I expected to be able to get a recipe of the internet and knock up a "proper" ice cream in no time. A look for Italian ice cream recipes simply gave me a load of same. basic stuff mainly from US people with Italian sounding names. However, I discovered that Italians call ice cream Gelato and it is different! but what is the difference. God this is so hard... The difference is one or more of the following: -

1. There is less cream and more or all full fat milk used (less fat the more intense the flavours).
2. There are less or no egg yokes (that gets rid of the colour and the custard taste)
• or there are more eggs (which doesn't quite make sense)
3. It is mixed/churned slower so there is less air in it and it is denser
4. Its not kept as cold as modern ice cream. 

Interesting (for me anyway) is that ice cream probably came about when the Arabs introduced sorbet to Sicily and they adapted to use milk instead of water. 

So now all that is sorted, just go ahead and make your ice cream..

OK for vanilla but what about Tutti Frutti?

Search and you'll mainly get US sites with all sorts of fresh fruit bananas, peaches mandarin, cherries and pineapple. None of that back in the UK in the late 50's they'd only just stopped rationing and fresh fruit was limited and expensive. It was also seasonal and no good for a consistent product.

The Tutti Frutti I remember was small pieces of sugary fruit and some green stuff called Angelica. Which I vaguely remember not liking, but can't remember the taste. The other thing that they have stopped in supermarkets is candied Angelica. (starting to become paranoid). I had to order Angelica online and not that widely available.

Now this may not be the best recipe, but it is the closest I got to the Tutti Frutti I remember (or think I remember) from Notarianni's. If I find something better I'll update the blog.

Ingredients:-

• 400ml whole milk
• 300ml single cream
• 85g - 100g caster sugar depending on how sweet you like it.
• vanilla extract or past if you want
• 25g angelica
• 50g glace cherries
• 50g candied peel (orange and lemon)
• 50g sultanas (or raisins)
• 75ml orange juice

Instructions: -

• Put the fruit (cherries, peel, sultanas) in a bowl and cover with orange juice and leave to soak for at least an hour. Chil after bad before adding to ice cream
• Place milk and cream in a a bowl
• add the sugar
• add vanilla if you want
• scrape out the beans and place them and the pod in the milk
• refrigerate until well chilled (about 30 minuets)
• prepare the ice cream machine and poor the mix in steadily while the paddle is turning.
• once the mixture has almost frozen, add the fruit and juice for the final minute or two
• put the ice cream (geleto) in a suitable container and place in the freezer for at least an hour
• if in the freezer for several hours take out and place in the fridge for about an hour before serving

Let me know how you get on.