First things first, make sure your ice cream liner in cold, and by cold I mean frozen for at last 24 hours. If you like ice cream, just leave it in your freezer if you have the room for it. That’s what I do. I like to be ice cream ready at all times. You really want to make sure that all your ingredients are as cold as possible. I just pull everything, including the berries, out of the fridge as I’m making this. And, along with your ice cream liner, make sure to have a freezer ready container ready to add the finished ice cream to. I use a glass container that I leave in the freezer so it’s ice cold. Just make sure to keep everything cold, you don’t want to spend the time making this just to have it melt, you get the idea.

Now, down to the the other bits. Roughly divide your quart of berries in three. I diced one third to add into the ice cream just before it’s finished so I had some chunks in there and it wasn’t just a homogenous smooth mixture. Totally a personal preference, and if you happen to not want them, then just divide your berries in two.

For the remaining berries. Remove the greens and puree. Set one half of the uncooked puree aside and add the other half to a sauce pan, along with the brown sugar, vanilla and salt. Bring this mixture to a boil and cook for about 3-5 mins. You’re just aiming to slightly reduce the mixture by boiling off some of the water, and it also helps to dissolve the sugar.

Once you’re finished boiling the berries, turn off the heat, and get a large bowl filled with a ton of ice and some water. You want to then plunge that saucepan into the bowl of ice water and stir the cooked strawberry mixture for about 3 mins or so. You want to take this mixture from boiling hot to well chilled so you can combine it with the milk and cream then promptly make the ice cream. If you have time you can do this in advance and chill it in the fridge. I don’t have the patience for that, so ice bath it is.

Now you’re ready to assemble your ice cream base. In a jar, or bowl, combine the cooked berry mixture, the uncooked puree, heavy cream and milk. Stir till everything is combined. You now have you base, or the best strawberry milk ever. All depends how you look at it.

You’re ready to freeze. Add your base to the ice cream machine and let it run for about 20mins, or however long you machine specifies. Just before it’s done drop in the chopped berries, if you have them, so they are mixed throughout. Then add your ice cream to a freezer ready container, stash it in the freezer and you should be ready to eat in about 4 hours!

I like to take my ice cream out of the freezer and let it get slightly soft for about 5 mins, scoop it onto a sugar cone and then eat up!