Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

By West Village Bill

The summer has been flying by, and what with my crazy move, I've been too busy to make ice cream or get to the Jersey shore. To rectify the latter situation, I'll be heading to Cape May with my New Jersey buddies Dan and Paul on Friday. Woot! And over this past weekend, I made my first ice cream since the official start of summer. It was flavored with lemon verbena, and it was fantastic.

I first made Lemon Verbena Ice Cream last summer after seeing a sign at the Berried Treasures stand at the Union Square Greenmarket suggesting that that herb was terrific in ice cream. Berried Treasures is the only stand I've come across that offers LV, maybe because around here it has to be overwintered inside. Or so I've read on the Internets. I should ask the woman from BT whether she does that or protects it from frost in some other way.



When I bought my lemon verbena on Friday, I told the woman from BT that I was using it to make ice cream and that her sign last year had inspired me to finally give it a go. She seemed pleased and said a chef was supposed to make her some LV ice cream in the coming week.

My friends Desirée and Bob came to visit me yesterday evening, and after we got dinner at Cowgirl, we ate bowls of the ice cream with some fresh blackberries on the side out in front of my building, because Bob is terribly allergic to dogs (and cats). Desirée enjoyed it, and she said Bob raved about it all the way home to Jersey.

Today, Desirée suggested I try making ice cream with herbs from her garden. I'm particularly excited about using pineapple sage, maybe accompanied by orange zest or chunks of actual pineapple.

I should also get around to making that Lemon Verbena Vodka I mentioned on QNY back in February. I'd have lots of fun using it in lemon verbena–accented cocktails this winter.