Heat Relief? Flower Inspired Ice Cream, Drinks and Tulips to Plant

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By Jill Brooke

With record heat breaking records across Europe and the United States, who can’t think of anything but a source of relief through cool refreshing ice cream?

So here are a few DIY ideas. First, since we always look for the positive, we thought a fun project would be making homemade ice cream with flower infusions.

Here are two ice cream recipes I found at Moutain Rose Herbs.

Vanilla Rose Ice Cream Recipe

Yield: Makes about 1 quart.

Ingredients 

  • 2 cups organic half-and-half
  • 1 cup organic heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup organic sugar
  • 1 cu  organic rose buds or petals
  • 1 tsp. organic rose water
  • 1 organic vanilla bean, split and scraped

Directions 

  1. Combine half-and-half, cream, sugar, scraped vanilla bean pulp, rose buds, and vanilla bean pod in a large saucepan.
  2. Place over medium heat.
  3. Stir occasionally until mixture just barely begins to simmer. Do not boil!
  4. Remove the mixture from heat immediately and allow to cool for a few minutes.
  5. Strain out the rose buds and vanilla bean pod with a strainer or mesh strainer.
  6. Pour mixture into a lidded container.
  7. Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to develop.
  8. Whisk in rose water and pour the mixture into an ice cream maker to freeze as directed.
  9. Once semi-solid, spoon the mixture back into a lidded container and harden in the freezer for at least one hour before serving.

Chamomile Honey Ice Cream Recipe

Yield: Makes about 1 quart.

Ingredients 

  • 2 cups organic half-and-half
  • 1 cup organic heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. local honey
  • 1/4 cup organic chamomile flowers
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract – though I like to double the recipe for vanilla

Directions  

  1. Combine half-and-half, cream, honey, and chamomile in a large saucepan.
  2. Place over medium heat.
  3. Stir occasionally until mixture just barely begins to simmer. Do not boil!
  4. Remove the mixture from heat immediately and allow to cool for a few minutes.
  5. Strain out chamomile.
  6. Whisk in the vanilla extract and pour mixture into a lidded container.
  7. Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to develop.
  8. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze as directed.
  9. Once semi-solid, spoon the mixture back into a lidded container and harden in the freezer for at least one hour before serving.

Of course, you can also consider having a cool libation with a flower-infused cocktail courtesy of Doni Belau’s fab Paris cocktail book.

Her recipe is the following for a Flower Cosmo.

Ingredients:

  1. 2 oz. flower-infused vodka
  2. 1/2 oz. triple sec or Cointreau
  3. 1/2 oz. lime juice
  4. 3/4 oz. cranberry juice

Directions:

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake with ice until very cold. Strain and place in a frozen martini glass and garnish with organic rose petals.

And since I look at everything through the prism of flowers, perhaps contemplate while drinking or eating these  “ICE CREAM” double tulips for late summer planting – named because of how much they look like ice cream cones.  

Fun fact: A normal tulip has six petals while the double has twice the amount. 

Dutch Grown and Brecks are some of the companies that offer a choice between standard Ice Cream Tulips and Banana Ice Cream Tulips. The standard variety is the color of vanilla ice cream, surrounded by a second layer of petals, colored pink and green. The Banana Ice Cream Tulips start life as a large round sphere that slowly changes from green to a purplish pink with green stripes. Definitely something refreshing for your garden that you can appreciate for next year when temperatures hopefully won’t be so hot.