#151 An Obsession for Soy Cream Sorbet

Labor Day has become a symbol for most Americans as a day to celebrate the end of the summer. The NCAA teams play their first games a week before Labor Day and the NFL plays the first game the Thursday following L Day. This year the NFL season starts on Thursday September 8th at Lambeau Field the home of the Green Bay Packers(last years champions).  But this year natural calamities have also slashed the nation and for our area the last two weeks have been a little shaky.

Irene was hitting the East Coast with full force and the earthquake in Virginia caused enough inconvenience for many folks. I was at work when it happened -- a massive shake, dust falling from the ceiling, furniture moving, things falling to the ground, followed by evacuations and dead phonelines. It was a traumatic experience for most of us in the DC Metro area. In the back of my mind I could imagine or see pictures of destruction and demolished buildings. For a moment I thought rubble, fragments of glass or massive piles of brick may come down upon all of us but we evacuated the building and waited for calls from loved ones. By God' grace no one was hurt around me.  I pray for those in Mineral VA, who were directly impacted by the aftermath of the earthquake.

Today, I told myself that I will celebrate for lives saved as we approach the end of summer with this irresistably splendid sorbet. Aren't we all obsessed with finding new foods and healthy culinary treats? Well,  I absolutely love to try most innovative ice-cream flavors when they are advertised. The Green tea or Azuki Bean Mochi icecream are favorites, and Lemon-grass Key Lime Sorbet is absolutely stunning but how about Ginger-Honey?

Just the other day my elder daughter N mentioned a certain ice-cream that I used to make with custard powder and milk when she was a little girl. I was touched that she remembered and described the flavor after all these years. On a spontaneous note I turned to ice cream making and that too without an ice-cream maker!! I would like to put my best foot forward with non-dairy recipes like this one to whip up a simple Sorbet with soy cream because this was my first attempt at Soy ice-cream.  My conclusion was that although the creaminess of whole dairy cream brings out the smooth texture of flavors such as chocolate or vanilla, this one with soy is just as good as any other. As lovely as it was, the only change I would make is that next time I would add an extra teaspoon of cornflour to make it a little extra smooth. What's more, it is enhanced with the flavor of ginger and honey. Now, who would turn away from honey-ginger ice cream?

HONEY GINGER SOY SORBET

Ingredients:
2 cups Original Soymilk
2 cups Original Soy Creamer
Ginger- 1 inch piece
Candied Ginger- 1/2 cup
Honey- 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar- 3/4 cup
Cornstarch- 2 Tbslpns
Eggs-1 whole
Egg yolks- 5

Method:
1. Place soymilk and creamer in a medium saucepan and whisk in the honey, brownsugar.
2. Remove the skin of the ginger and slice into half. Crush well with a knife and add to the soymilk.
3. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat blending in the cornstarch mixed in a Tablespoon of soymilk, and remove from fire.
4. Beat the egg and the yolks together until smooth and slowly add the warm soymilk into the eggs very
carefully making sure it does not turn into scrambled eggs. Very slowly stream in the soymilk, beating well as you pour it in.
5. When 2 cups of milk have blended with the eggs, pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
6. Cool the mixture and strain the cream using a strainer removing the ginger.
7. If you have an ice cream maker you can process according to manufacturer's instructions.
8. I froze the mixture in a kitchen aid bowl for a few hours. Removed it and beat the mixture really
well until smooth. Refreeze again and repeat by beating the mixture as it freezes hard.
9. When the mixture is frozen to a smooth creamier texture, add finely chopped candied ginger to the
mixture and beat again before freezing one more time.
10. Serve scooped and topped with honey and chopped candied ginger.