Guilt-Free Strawberry Lemon Ice Cream

In Louisiana, springtime means that it is strawberry season. I can’t get enough of these luscious berries at the peak of their growing season and I am always looking for ways to use them. Here is a another variation of my no-cook ice cream recipes which incorporates fresh strawberries. It is quick and simple to mix up and the flavor of the strawberries shine. This soft ice cream is guilt-free, too, since I made it using evaporated milk — rather than heavy cream — and used agave as a sweetner. The “secret ingredient” in the recipe is a box of instant lemon pudding. It adds flavor, helps thicken the ice cream making it smooth and creamy. No cooked egg custard in this recipe. Although the pudding does add a little sugar, there is no additional fat. Whew, still-guilt free.

Strawberries are members of the rose family. They have been cultivated since early Roman times and in American since colonial days. Nutritionally, strawberries are packed with Vitamin C, antioxidants and potassium. In fact, a serving of 8 medium-sized strawberries has 140% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C and only 45 calories. More Vitamin C than oranges!

There are so many ways to use strawberries — the simplest way is to slice them and eat as a fruit to accompany the meal. Or add them to a salad — either a fruit salad or a leafy green salad. Of course, strawberry cake and strawberry pies are great. Today, I’m making guilt-free strawberry ice cream.

Guilt-Free Strawberry Lemon Ice Cream Recipe

My strawberry ice cream recipe is another no-cook variation of some of my many ice cream flavors. It is simple and quick to make with four ingredients — strawberries, agave, evaporated milk and instant lemon pudding. (Plus, I added whole milk in this batch since I was short of a small can of evaporated milk.) I like using evaporated milk in low-fat ice creams. It is thickens the ice cream, has a great flavor and is lower in fat than heavy cream or half-and-half cream.

This ice cream is quite delicious; you don’t miss the cream at all. It is smooth, not too sweet and has a bright fruity flavor.

About Agave

I used agave nector for a sweetener in the ice cream. This syrup is easy to mix in with the strawberries because it is already dissolved. Otherwise, agave has as many calories as table sugar, and nutritionally, there really aren’t many other benefits.

Agave comes from a plant native to semi-arid regions of the Latin America (dry but still with some rain) such as Mexico and as well as southwest America. Agave is processed from the heart of the plant. The leaves are stripped and the sap is extracted and filtered. Agave is a high-fructose syrup which is about 80% fructose and 20% glucose. And fructose has a lower glycemic index (GI), which means that it is absorbed more slowly into the bloodstream and does not cause a spike in blood sugar levels which makes it desirable for those with diabetes. However, agave is sugar, it still has as many calories as table sugar. Plus, much of the agave on the market is highly processed which removes most of the nutritional properties.

Making the Ice Cream

To make this low-fat ice cream recipe, I used my food processor. It makes things easy — although you could also mix this up manually. Cut the stems off the stawberries, half them. A 16-oz (1 pound) carton of strawberries yields 3 cups of halved berries — just enough for this batch. Process the strawberries in the food processor to a puree. (Alternatively, use a potato or food masher to mash the strawberries.) Add in the agave syrup and give the food processor several “whirls” to mix in. Then add the evaporated milk and a small box of instant lemon pudding mix.

Freeze the ice cream mixture using the ice cream churner of your choice. I love my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. With this system, no rock salt is needed to freeze the ice cream. It uses a double-walled container with a special refrigerant which lowers the temperature and allows the ice cream to freeze. Just make sure that the container is completely frozen — I freeze it overnight — or the ice cream won’t freeze and thicken.

My Cuisinart Ice Cream machine makes a small batch of ice cream. It is just enough for the two of us or a small dinner with friends. Plus, low-fat ice cream is really best when eaten the day it is made. Otherwise, the ice cream becomes hard and grainy after several days. However, quickly finishing off a small batch of ice cream is not a problem at our house!

It took only 10 minutes to freeze this small batch. I chilled the evaporated milk for several hours prior to mixing the ice cream “custard.” This helped speed things up.

The only disadvantage of my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker is that ice cream is still soft when it is finished freezing. It is best to let the ice cream “cure” in the freezer for several hours prior to serving.

About Louisiana Strawberry Farmers

Yes, strawberries grow in Louisiana. The peak of our state’s strawberry crop is in April and May. Commerical strawberry farms still flourish in just a few parishes (counties) in southeast Louisiana — not to far from us – so it is easy to find local strawberries. Early in the twentieth century, this was a large agricultural crop with 14,000 acres of production. Hungarian and Italian immigrants came to this area to work in pine lumber mills and soon began farming. Their manual labor and plentiful land made the strawberry crop successful. However, over the years, the number of farms have dwindled to just a dozen or so farms. I guess it is a sign of economics, progress and diseases affecting the strawberries. The small community of Ponchatula still hosts an annual strawberry festival in April and proclaims themselves as “Strawberry Capital of the World.” And the folks in Ponchatula still claim that Louisiana strawberries are the sweetest. Other states, such as California and Florida, have out ranked our state in strawberry production. But, you can argue that our stawberries are the very sweetest!

Growing Strawberries in a Louisiana Garden

After attending a lecture on growing fruits and vegetables in pots — given by the LSU Agricultural experts — I imagined myself as having my own strawberry farm. Those folks made it look so easy. So, I became a strawberry farmer. I learned that our strawberries are transplanted from bare-root stock and runners which come from other growers in the country. This to avoid the many diseases which would otherwise ruin our native strawberry plants.

The bare roots are planted in autumn and they lie dormant over the winter. In the springtime, luscious plants emerge and white blossoms develop into strawberries. This variety of strawberries is classified as a short-day variety. Flowers begin to develop during short days and cool temperatures in the fall and winter months. The fruit appears in spring when conditions are favorable for good-quality fruit development — before it becomes too hot and humid in Louisiana causing fruit rot.

To ensure the best crop possible, I purchased special potting soil with the proper mix of nutrients recommended by the LSU experts. I planted the strawberry roots in large buckets which I picked up at Home Depot. We drilled holes in the bottom of the buckets for drainage and I even added pebbles and sand for drainage. I set up a drip sprinkler system and covered the pots in our winter freeze. Yes, I really did things properly.

Things looked bleak at first. But then, like magic, little green plants emerged and they flourished.

Yes, we had strawberries.

What is my future as a strawberry farmer? Unfortunately, my strawberry crop was rather slim. The birds and critters discovered the fruit, too. Plus, my garden is rather skimpy on sunlight which hinders fruit growth. The strawberries which I managed to harvest were delicious. And, it is rewarding to grow your own food crop. However, after balancing ecconomics and time factors, I’ll let the commerical folks do the strawberry growing. My net cost per strawberry was mighty high! Although this was an interesting adventure, in the future, I will be the consumer. I’ll just be a strawberry farmer dreamer and will grow other produce in my pots.

I have to brag about this strawberry ice cream recipe. Compared to a cooked egg custard type of ice cream, this no-cook ice cream is just as delicious. And, it is healthier — without all those calories from fat. This ice cream has the fruity flavor of both strawberries and lemon, is not too, too sweet and is very smooth. And, I even found some cookies to serve with the ice cream. Enjoy!

Enjoy all my other strawberry recipes in past blog posts under “strawberries” in my blog index.

Reference:

https://aitcla.org/strawberries#:~:text=Strawberries%20got%20their%20name%20when,10%20in%20U.S.%20strawberry%20production.&text=Strawberries%20are%20a%20member%20of,and%20are%20produced%20as%20annuals.