Makes: about 1.5 quarts / liters

Again, the Chinese take the credit for inventing the frozen dessert. And could you believe it happened as early as 200 BC?!!  They created some kind of a frozen pudding using fresh snow. But (Wait! NOT again!) Marco Polo seems to have introduced it to the Italians thanks to his travel to the Asian continent.  All along, I have been thinking he was a trader and a traveler. But this guy turns out to be one great “food” explorer, though. And as with pasta, Italians (or Europeans, then) just enriched it by leaps and bounds.  And today, the world relishes it, be it, in any form: popsicles, gelati, sundaes, syrupy ices, sherbets, sorbets, granitas, on cones, in waffle bowls…

The Stracciatella ice cream became popular in the Lombardy region of Italy where a restaurant became famous for its gelato made by incorporating chocolate using the same method as its parent: a savory egg-broth soup where the egg is “shredded” by dropping it into the boiling soup while stirring. This method shreds chocolate in fine broken strands so you don’t have to endure the displeasure of biting into huge frozen chunks of chocolate while immersed in a world of bliss (of tasting the oh-so-fine ice cream, of course!). It ensures that the chocolate gets a delicate crunch even when frozen.

This ice cream is as refreshing as the first snow of the winter – well, in a bowl. I found fresh assorted mint leaves at the local market and could not resist.  And the first thing that popped in my mind was this ice cream.  There was a pack of assorted mint leaves which had Chocolate mint, Peppermint, Spearmint & Licorice mint – which was my choice for this treat.  This ice cream will change your perception about mint, which is mostly used as a savory herb in India.

I doubled the decadence and served the ice cream with Andes Mint that we had a bunch of, thanks to dining at the American-Italian restaurant chain, Olive Garden the previous weekend.  I’m a fan of neither, although Andes mint tastes good and Olive Garden is not that bad of a choice for an occasional dine-out either!!  Nothing is wrong with the Andes Mints except for partially hydrogenated fats, artificial flavor & the food color.  Although these contain peppermint oil, I’m wondering if it is the Vanillin in the chocolate that they are talking about . It’s pretty good that they did not go overboard  with the color (think electric-green mints!) but just kept it a pastel green.

Whoever knew that there are more than 600 varieties of mint grown all over the world……Chew on this fact while you make this ice cream.

For the Ice Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups whole milk, divided
1 cup granulated sugar
3 T. organic cornstarch
2 cups of assorted mint leaves (rinse & gently pat dry using a clean kitchen towel)
4 oz. dark chocolate bar (not chocolate chips), melted ***

Stir the cornstarch in ½ cup of milk until the mixture is homogenous.  This is the slurry.  In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring cream, remaining milk (2.5 cups) and sugar to a boil, stirring often to prevent the milk from scorching.  Remove from the heat. Stir the cornstarch slurry once and gradually add it to the hot milk mixture in a steady stream.  Return the pan to the stove and bring it to a boil over medium high heat with constant stirring so that the cornstarch does not turn lumpy. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low-medium and cook the mixture until thick with constant stirring.

Remove from the heat and add the prepared mint leaves. Gently muddle the leaves with the back of a ladle to release all the flavor of the leaves.  Leave it to cool stirring often so the custard does not form a skin on top. When the custard comes to room temperature, strain it and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a mixing bowl and pour the melted chocolate in a slow steady thin stream while stirring the ice cream with a spatula.  This creates the Stracciatella effect in the ice cream.

*** If you do not want to follow the Stracciatella method, add in the grated chocolate a minute before the ice cream is done churning.

If you do not own an ice cream maker, freeze the mixture until semi-frozen, blend using a hand blender or counter-top blender and return it to the freezer. Repeat this process thrice and then, freeze until the ice cream is of soft-serve consistency, fold in the grated chocolate and freeze until hard.

Want to avoid the chocolate? Make it a minty affair by omitting the chocolate altogether. The Mint ice cream will double up as a palate cleanser, apart from being the dessert in the grand finale of a sumptuous feast or meal.

P.S.: There is NO need to add the St. Patrick’s Day mint-green food color to this ice cream. Who said mint ice creams have to be neon-green?