Easy homemade vegan ice cream for summer
Most people like a tub of ice-cream, but nearly all brands sold in England are made with dairy milk, often from factory farms. Choosing vegan ice-cream means it’s cholesterol-free (so you can eat more!) And if you invest in a little ice-cream maker, you can make your own with seasonal ingredients.
Strawberry ice cream (Rainbow Nourishments) contains a whopping 8 cups of fresh strawberries. No ice-cream machine needed (and it’s also free from bananas and cashews, unlike most recipes).
Homemade ice-cream only lasts a few weeks in the freezer, so just make enough for what you need. But you can then use local seasonal leftover ingredients (blueberry and lavender anyone?) for nice seasonal treats.
If you’ve never used an ice-cream maker before, it’s simple. You can put the mixed ingredients in a chilled bowl, turn it on and have homemade ice-cream in around 20 minutes.
You can sometimes make it without a machine, and below are some no-churn recipes that don’t need one.
- Before recycling cans (say for coconut milk), rinse then remove lids (pop ring-pulls over holes). Then step on upper cans to ‘pinch’ inner rims together, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
- Unless you have a food waste bin, bin citrus and rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures.
The secret to good vegan ice cream
Traditional ice-cream gets its richness from dairy, cream or egg yolks. So we need to find other ingredients to provide richness, and prevent the ice-cream from becoming too icy. Fortunately, there are several excellent options:
Coconut milk
Full-fat coconut milk is one of the easiest replacements. Ensure it’s monkey-friendly (not harvested by monkey slaves). It contains plenty of fat, so gives a creamy texture. It’s especially good for vanilla, caramel, tropical fruit and chocolate ice creams.
If you don’t want a strong coconut flavour, choose bold ingredients like coffee or chocolate. Avoid low-fat coconut milks, they won’t work.
Oat cream
Oat cream is another good option for a neutral taste. And ideal if you are not keen on coconut.
Always use full-fat coconut milk rather than a low-fat version when making ice cream. The extra fat makes a noticeable difference to the final texture.
Cashews
Soaked cashews (choose organic versions from Europe to protect bees used in California versions) give a nice creamy base. They are quite expensive and you have to remember to soak them first. But they make for lovely creamy ice-creams. You also need a powerful blender.
Frozen bananas
These are popular. You freeze ripe bananas (slice them first) on a baking sheet, then pop them in a reusable silicone bag, to use when ready. Some people blend this up alone in a powerful blender to make ‘nice cream’ (it doesn’t really taste like ice cream but it’s still nice).
Bananas are also naturally sweet, so you don’t need to add much sugar.
How to store homemade ice cream
Homemade ice cream is best kept in a shallow, airtight, freezer-safe container.
Press a piece of parchment paper against the surface of the ice cream before putting the lid on. This can help reduce ice crystals forming on top.
Because homemade ice cream doesn’t contain some of the stabilisers found in commercial products, it can become quite firm after several hours.
So just remove it from the freezer and let it sit at room temperature for around 10–15 minutes before scooping. A warm ice-cream scoop can also make serving easier.
Vegan mint choc chip ice cream
Vegan mint choc chip ice cream (Rainbow Nourishments) only needs four ingredients, including vegan condensed milk which can find in stores these days. Again, no ice-cream maker needed.
2-ingredient vegan chocolate ice cream
This vegan chocolate ice cream (Rainbow Nourishments) is made with dairy-free whipping cream and thick chocolate fudge sauce.
Homemade fruity sorbet
This mixed berry sorbet only needs fresh or frozen mixed berries with cane sugar and a little lemon juice. Tastes like ice-cream but isn’t!
A book of vegan ice cream recipes
The Vegan Ice Cream Bible is a super book of recipes by a German cook. Interestingly (and this is something to ponder), she went vegan as a feminist, saying that she wished to protect her fellow ‘female friends!’
Unique recipes include:
- White coffee ice cream
- Earl Grey and orange ice cream
- Walnut and maple syrup ice cream
- Black Forest ice-cream
- Mango and lemongrass sorbet
Booja booja vegan ice cream from Norfolk
You’ll have to go to the health shop or farm shop to find this. But Booja Booja is the best vegan ice cream in England. It’s expensive (but very rich so you don’t need a lot) and made with just a few organic ingredients including nuts.
Like all ice-creams, the cardboard tubs have a thin layer of plastic film on top to protect. But you can usually recycle this at supermarket bag bins (it depends on the flavour). If not, just bin it.
But it’s the best option yet. Choose from vanilla, caramel pecan praline, chocolate salted caramel or deeply dark chocolate.
