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July 22, 2006

TROPICAL TASTE - Coconut - Pineapple Ice Cream with Candied Ginger Syrup

June 15, 2007 12:32 AM EDT

views: 111 | rating: 9.8/10 (20 votes) | comments: 40

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One of the perks of living in a tropical climate is the availability of fresh fruit. Some are available year around, like coconuts, papayas and bananas and then others have their own cycles, like pineapples and mangoes.

We have a coconut palm in the yard and it is so tall that only once have I been able to get the fruit fresh enough that the pulp inside the shell was still soft and gelatinous. It is delicious when sprinkled with sugar and you can just eat it with a spoon right out of the shell.

It took the phone company to come and change some lines and the guys in the crew asked us if they could get some of our coconuts with their cherry picker. We told them yes, if they would pick a few for us.

Recently a friend shared a recipe for a very rich coconut ice cream and it called for the candied ginger syrup. I thought it sounded delicious, but her recipe took more steps than I was willing to go through at this time... I wanted coconut ice cream and I wanted it NOW!

I looked in my files and found a recipe I had made years ago. I found it originally in an old Better Homes and Garden Magazine. Simple, easy, fast and delicious are four words I love to hear when it comes to gratifying a craving.

Finding a few bits of leftover fresh pineapple in the refrigerator, I just decided to dump them in with the coconut mix before putting it all in my little ice cream maker. I didn't have any coconut flakes on hand, so of course, did not add any.

There are other methods of making the candied ginger, some of them much superior to the one I used, but this one turns out very good candied ginger if the ginger is young and tender (*).

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Coconut - Pineapple Ice Cream with Candied Ginger Syrup

4 cups unsweetened coconut milk

1/2 cup sugar, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon coconut extract, optional

1 1/4 cups unsweetened coconut flakes

1/4 cup toasted coconut, optional

Combine the coconut milk and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the extract, if using, and the coconut flakes. Chill in the freezer, stirring occasionally until hardened, or prepare in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

Top with toasted coconut before serving. I topped mine with the Candied Ginger bits in Syrup

Candied Ginger Syrup

To make the candied ginger:

1-1/3 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup peeled and thinly sliced tender ginger

Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 1 hour or until tender.

Strain and dry by placing on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Fill a bowl with some granulated sugar and dip the ginger pieces in it, shaking off the excess.

To make the syrup:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup chopped candied ginger

Bring to a boil and reduce the liquid by half to make a thick syrup. Recipe can be doubled to make larger quantities. Store in glass jar in refrigerator. Spoon over ice cream, pound cake or bread puddings.

(*) You can tell when ginger is very young and tender if the skin is very thin, shiny and pink with slight green overtones. If it has the beige skin you are used to seeing in the markets, then it is already a bit tougher and will need longer boiling. You are likelier to find fresh, tender ginger at an Asian Market.


		Sonia Martinez, Gather Food Correspondent
	Sonia's column, 'Tropical Taste' is a regular twice-monthly feature of Gather Essentials: Food. Sonia is a cookbook author and freelance food writer for several publications in Hawaii, and is also a Hawaii Island Journal restaurant reviewer in partnership with her son Anthony Mathis. She lives in a beautiful rural rainforest area on the Big Island of Hawaii. You can keep up with Sonia's adventures and ongoing love affair with Hawaii by joining her network, or visiting her food & garden blog at Sonia Tastes Hawaii.