Boysenberry Ice Cream

one of New Zealand's best-loved ice creams: a deep-purple ripple of tart, winey boysenberry crushed through a rich vanilla custard, the taste of the Kiwi summer holiday

Origin: New Zealand

From the journey of Blackberry.

New Zealand grows more boysenberries than any country on earth, and the fruit has become woven into the national love of ice cream. In a country where the ice-cream cabinet at the dairy and the beachside kiosk is a genuine cultural institution, boysenberry ice cream, and its cousin the boysenberry ripple, holds a place of deep affection, the deep-purple, tart-sweet berry set against rich vanilla dairy as one of the defining flavours of the New Zealand summer holiday. The boysenberry, that large, soft, winey Californian hybrid of blackberry and raspberry, took so well to the cool growing country of Nelson and Canterbury that it became a signature New Zealand crop, and the ice cream shows it at its best: the fruit is cooked briefly to a dark, glossy sauce and then rippled through a churned vanilla custard, so that every scoop is streaked and pooled with sharp berry against sweet cream. It is a homely, generous, unpretentious ice cream, and to New Zealanders it tastes unmistakably of home.

Ingredients

Berry Ripple

300 g boysenberries (or blackberries), fresh or frozen
100 g caster sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

Custard

500 ml double cream
250 ml whole milk
150 g caster sugar
6 whole egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Make the berry ripple: cook the boysenberries with the 100 g sugar and the lemon juice over a medium heat for about 8 minutes, until broken down and syrupy. Press through a sieve for a seedless sauce if you wish, then cool completely and chill.
Make the custard: warm the cream and milk in a heavy pan until steaming. Whisk the egg yolks with the 150 g sugar until pale, then pour on the hot cream in a stream, whisking. Return to the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Stir the vanilla into the custard, strain it into a bowl, and cool, then chill thoroughly, ideally overnight. Churn the cold custard in an ice-cream maker until thick and softly frozen.
Spoon a third of the churned ice cream into a freezer tub, drizzle over some of the cold berry sauce, and repeat in layers. Draw a knife or skewer through the layers once or twice to ripple, without fully mixing. Freeze for at least 4 hours until firm.
Move the ice cream from the freezer to the fridge for 10 minutes before scooping, so it softens to a scoopable, ripple-revealing consistency. Serve in cones or bowls.

Notes

Frozen boysenberries make an excellent ripple and are the usual choice outside the New Zealand season; blackberries, or a blackberry and raspberry mixture, stand in well for the hybrid's flavour. For a quicker no-churn version, fold the cooled berry sauce through lightly whipped cream sweetened with condensed milk and freeze. Keep a little extra berry sauce back to pour over the scooped ice cream at the table, the way the New Zealand kiosks do.

The Gastrographer

Name: Boysenberry Ice Cream
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 6 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: New Zealand
Ingredients: 300 g boysenberries (or blackberries), fresh or frozen; 100 g caster sugar; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 500 ml double cream; 250 ml whole milk; 150 g caster sugar; 6 whole egg yolks; 1 tsp vanilla extract

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control