In the Land of Milk and Honey

Sometimes the art of cooking lies in knowing when not to cook something. I’m not saying we should all become raw food-itarians, but I do fail to see how perfectly ripe fresh-picked strawberries can be improved upon. Nature did all the work for me; all I had to do was plant two little strawberry plants last year, and watch how they spread like mad across my garden plot. This year my girls and I harvested more than six pounds of strawberries from a strawberry patch not bigger than eight square feet. And I didn’t cook a single one of them – I couldn’t bear messing with perfection, and besides, they weren’t around long enough. So, thank you sun, rain, earthworms (and other friendly soil critters), and bees for the delicious strawberries.

I would also like to thank the bees for making honey. I didn’t realize it until I moved to Georgia, but honey is kind of a big deal around here. When I do my DeKalb Farmer’s Market shopping trips, there are at least a half dozen different kinds of local raw honey from which to choose. Orange blossom, gall berry, tupelo, clover, wild flower, etc... I usually choose wild flower because it’s the least expensive, but I’ve tried clover and orange blossom, and both are lovely, particularly the orange blossom. It really does faintly taste of orange blossoms, and I don’t even want to describe it further, because the words “orange blossom” and “honey” speak for themselves.

So, in this world in which bad things like unstoppable oil spills happen, I’m taking the existence of fresh garden strawberries and honey as proof that a benevolent force does exist in the universe. Well, the existence of strawberries and honey, and also the happy, rhythmic mundanity of family life which goes on and on, keeping me centered. Which leads me to a little bit of divine inspiration that occurred the other night: I had just started to make some vanilla ice cream to celebrate my older daughter's learning how to swim, when I realized I was completely out of sugar. (These kinds of things happen to me a lot.) Not making ice cream was not an option, so I looked in my cupboard for something else sweet. Honey! Thank you, benevolent force in the universe!

So I went ahead and made the ice cream with honey instead of sugar, and honestly, it was some of the best ice cream I ever ate in my entire life. The sweetness of each bite started off intensely floral, and finished with a caramelized, almost malty flavor. It tasted so much more rich and complex than plain old vanilla ice cream, and I didn’t even do the custard thing with eggs. So, amazingly, like the strawberries, no cooking was involved! I think the key was the quality of the honey, so if you do this, be sure to get raw honey, not the pasteurized kind, which has all the character cooked out of it, whatever it had to begin with.

This recipe is so easy, you have no one to thank but the benevolent force in the universe, or Nature, or more specifically, the bees and the cows (something Hindus have right). Oh, and the manufacturers of your ice cream maker. So, in honor of that benevolent force, who- or wherever it might be, I am going Old Testament and calling this ice cream Land of Milk and Honey Ice Cream (and also praying for that not-so-benevolent side of the Old Testament God to bring down some thunder and lightning and deliver us from corporate rule,  and dependence on fossil fuels).

Land of Milk and Honey Ice Cream (adapted from the booklet that came with my Cuisinart ice cream maker)
1 cup cold whole milk
2 cups cold heavy cream
½ cup honey (use a good quality raw honey)
2 teaspoons vanilla
fresh strawberries, optional (to top the ice cream before serving)

Mix all ingredients (except strawberries) together well, then pour into your ice cream maker and make ice cream, according to your machine’s instructions. My ice cream tasted better the next day, after it had time to harden in the freezer. Serve with fresh strawberries on top, if you have any left. I only had one left, and that one bite was heavenly (pun intended), but sorry, I didn’t get any pictures. I have a few stragglers waiting to ripen, and when they do, I'm hiding them from everybody until the ice cream is ready.