Saffron & lemon verbena

Hi!

I have tried to make the my perfect saffron ice cream for a few years, but never really getting it right. I have made pure saffron ice cream and gelato, and they were lovely but just not what I was looking for - I missed something to balance the sweet earthiness.

I even tried going in a decidedly decadent direction with saffron & milk chocolate was nice, but it wasn’t exactly a saffron ice cream. Same with the saffron salted caramel ice cream, the caramel played up the honeyed sweetness, but the saffron was a choirgirl, not the leading lady.

In the end it was my scented geranium that got me thinking in a citrusy-herbal direction. Scented geraniums taste and smell like crushed roses mixed with lemon verbena. It is a much more crisp, almost modern, herbal-floral flavour than heady-sweet rosewater (which I love, don’t get me wrong!). So I tried throwing a handful (okay, I weighed the handful first) of lemon verbena leaves into the hot milk with the saffron and prayed to all the gelato gods in the pantheon that this would be the one.

The flavour was beautiful. First and foremost saffrony, but with that fragrant zesty flavour of the verbena leaves to brighten the earthy sweetness.

If you think this might not be an ice cream you would not eat all on its own, why not try it with grilled peaches and crushed fresh raspberries for a different “Peach Melba”, or serve a generous scoop with your cherry pie. It is also a wonderful companion to a juicy taste au citron or passionfruit, but skip the meringue. Or with verbena poached pears and a milk chocolate sauce!