Cinnamon Myrtle Ice Cream
Australian bush spices are a growing food trend. Exciting flavours like lemon myrtle and wattle seed have become more readily available in stores.
Cinnamon myrtle is part of a group of related Myrtaceae family members. They were popularized as spices in Australian bushfood cuisine in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This group of plants also includes lemon myrtle and aniseed myrtle.
Cinnamon myrtle makes delicious ice cream. Try to source fresh leaves, otherwise specialty stores sell the spice as a fine powder.
What does cinnamon myrtle taste like?
Cinnamon myrtle has a similar flavour and aroma to cinnamon, with a slightly unusual bubblegum taste. If you love cinnamon sprinkled on toast or a grapefruit for breakfast, cinnamon myrtle will work just as well.
Use the whole leaf as you would use a bayleaf in a savoury casserole. It’s also delicious ground up and added to biscuits.
Cinnamon Myrtle Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 6 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 cups thickened cream
- 1 cup full cream milk
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon myrtle 15 leaves
- 1 pinch kosher salt
Instructions
- Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until pale in colour then set aside.
- Heat milk and cream in a large saucepan until simmering then remove from heat.
- Slowly pour a cup of the milk into the yolks while whisking as quickly as possible. Then pour yolks back into the saucepan of milk.
- Add cinnamon myrtle and salt then continue heating the cream until it begins to thicken then remove from heat. The liquid should coat the back of a spoon.
- Add the ice cream mixture to an airtight container and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Strain ice cream base and then churn ice cream in your ice cream machine. Scoop ice cream into an airtight container and allow to harden in the freezer for 2-3 hours.
Wow, I’d never heard of this! ‘Myrtle’ in this part of the world generally refers to a blueberry-like berry. I’d LOVE to taste both the ice cream and the spice itself. I wonder if dry spices can ship overseas. I know some food ingredients can and others cannot, but when it’s plants….it creates a whole new bunch of headaches at international borders.
Hi Dee, thanks for dropping by and commenting! You could try to buy lemon myrtle online but I’m not sure if they’d ship to you? Are you from the US?