This is made up of 2 components, Rhubarb and Custard, that are mixed together when placing in to the ice cream maker.

The first is the custard:

• 4 Egg yolks
• 100g Sugar
• 1/2 Pint (300ml) of milk
• 1/2 Pint (300ml) of double cream
• 1 or 2 vanilla pods, seeds removed

1. Slowly heat the milk in a saucepan until it begins to boil
2. Whilst the milk is warming, beat the egg yolks together with the sugar
3. When the milk has begun to boil, continue to beat the eggs and sugar and add to the milk
4. Add the vanilla and return the mixture to the heat, stirring constantly – do not let the mixture boil, otherwise it will separate. Once the mixture has heated sufficiently, it will coat the back of a wooden spoon with a film
5. Remove from the heat, leave to cool and then stir in the cream

Second, the rhubarb

• 3 or 4 Rhubarb stalks
• Sugar (to taste – I never like stipulating how much sugar to use, because some people prefer sharper-flavoured rhubarb, so just keep tasting throughout cooking and add more sugar where necessary)

1. Slice the rhubarb and place in to a pan over a low-to-medium heat with the sugar
2. Heat the mixture until it turns in to that gooey rhubarb mix that is synonymous with the filling of rhubarb crumble
3. Remember to keep tasting whilst cooking and add sugar where required
4. Take off the heat and leave to cool

Once both mixtures have cooled, then you can mix together very lightly, so you should end up with a kind of ‘ripple’ effect. Then place the combined mixture in to the ice cream maker and follow the associated instructions.

If you are serving this in a bowl for pudding, then you could even make up a ‘crumble’ mix to scatter across the top of the ice cream…..

Hamilton Beach Half Pint Soft Serve Ice Cream Maker $29.00

Cuisinart 1.5 Qrt Ice Cream Maker Freezer Bowl ICE45RFB $26.95

Auto Electric Ice Cream Maker 1-Liter L 1-Quart Qt #10A $10.50

Cuisinart 1.5 Qrt Ice Cream Maker Freezer Extra Bowl $39.95

New Back to Basics DCM32 Soft Serve Ice Cream Maker Less than 10 Minute Treat $37.77

Izzy ice cream maker 1200 Hawaii $65.00

Cuisinart Ice-Cream/Sorbet /Frozen Yogart Maker* Red* $36.99

Culinare Rocket Chef – Food Processor Ice Cream Maker Chopper Hand Crank $24.99

Cuisinart 2-quart Automatic Home Ice Cream Maker – New $79.45

Sunbeam 6 Quart Ice Cream Maker FRSBCB60-BLS $42.46

This gave me a thought; when I was a kid, my Mum always kept a tub of ice cream in the freezer, complete with a packet of cones in the cupboard (and if we were lucky, then a pack of those flaky chocolate fingers to stick in the ice cream!). I promised my daughter that we would buy a nice tub of ice cream to take home for future treats, however, when I picked up several tubs from the local shop, I began to read the ingredients and realised that the preservatives and additives contained in each would undoubtedly send her in to a frenzy of hyper-activity….what to do?

We then spied an ice cream maker and like in all great cartoon moments, you could almost see the light bulb appear from above my head! However, being slightly naive, I read the front of the box which stated, “make ice cream in 20 minutes”…..this got my daughter and I very excited indeed and we promptly headed home armed with our ‘miracle machine’. The initial excitement was soon dampened by my slightly more grounded wife, who questioned how perhaps I wondered how you could take warm ingredients and turn them in to a frozen product in just 20 minutes? Ok, so perhaps I should have read the rest of the box, which indicated the need to place the ice cream maker in the freezer for 12 hours prior to mixing…

So, 12 hours later, our excitement was on a par with 12 hours earlier! My daughters favourite fruit is strawberry, so we agreed to make strawberry ice cream. To me, this is fantastic because as with other forms of cooking, you know exactly what is going in to the food and you have full and complete control of this; no additives, no preservatives, no colouring and no flavourings, just plain and simple, quality, fresh produce.

Here’s the recipe we used:

• 1 Punnet of strawberries (approx 500g)
• 1/2 Pint (300ml) of double cream (ok, so it’s not going to be the most healthy, but who cares?!)
• approx 100g of sugar (we actually used less than this because the strawberries were particularly sweet, so just use to-taste)
• Juice of 1 lemon

And the fun bit:

1. Whiz up the strawberries in a food processor or blender
2. Mix in the sugar, cream and lemon juice
3. Follow the instructions of your ice cream maker
4. Spoon on to a cone and enjoy!

Cuisinart 1.5 Qrt Ice Cream Maker Freezer Bowl ICE45RFB $35.00

Rival White Mountain 6-Quart Hand-Crank Ice Cream Maker $184.95

Hamilton Beach Half Pint Soft Serve Ice Cream Maker $29.00

Cuisinart 1.5 Qrt Ice Cream Maker Freezer Bowl ICE45RFB $26.95

Auto Electric Ice Cream Maker 1-Liter L 1-Quart Qt #10A $10.50

Cuisinart 1.5 Qrt Ice Cream Maker Freezer Extra Bowl $39.95

New Back to Basics DCM32 Soft Serve Ice Cream Maker Less than 10 Minute Treat $37.77

Izzy ice cream maker 1200 Hawaii $65.00

Cuisinart Ice-Cream/Sorbet /Frozen Yogart Maker* Red* $36.99

Culinare Rocket Chef – Food Processor Ice Cream Maker Chopper Hand Crank $24.99