something cool

heat here. followed by more of those lushly cloudy and still afternoons. proper stone fruit weather, cherries and plums and apricots abound. there's only so much jam a person can make. especially if they know it tends to sit in little gloriously jewel bright heaps in their cabinets without being scraped across enough toast. and a person can try in vain to eat all the paper bags full of cherries stationed on the counter and fish apricots out of the big baskets hoping to make a dent in the stock. and one can fail miserably at that, or at least their stomach can object mightily. so the latest is in, and, don't laugh, it's froyo. or is it fro-yo. it's yogurt and it's frozen and it's not pale or wimpy or a fierce let down. it's delightful and refreshing and it takes all of twenty minutes active work. so get after it. or get after someone who has, because you'll be pleased you did.

frozen yogurt, let us say, is different than ice cream. partially because yogurt typically has less free-floating fat, partially also because true frozen yogurt will have tang that can be offset or tempered with something sweet and spicy. or both, as is the case here. frozen yogurt also has the tendency to become slightly crystalline because, unlike the aforementioned milk fat, yogurt's bulk is mostly water. when frozen yogurt can have an unappealing stiffness, or the tendency to leap from the spoon, spin across the kitchen and make mysteriously sticky spots on the floors and counters that take weeks to discover and scrub off. luckily there are some solutions to all of these otherwise irritating drawbacks of frozen yogurt and some benefits to boot.

as you've likely seen, yogurt cultures, used for making yogurt at home, can be purchased freeze dried. this is a clue that the probiotics in yogurt, you knew it was coming, can withstand a stint in the freezer thus reblooming happily in your belly. this is great because cold milk protein is, notoriously, one of the hardest ways to digest milk, especially if a person is already prone to struggling with lactose, etc. nice yogurt (not dannon or yoplait, ahem,) also has an intriguing flavor profile and can be less stodgy at the end of a summer meal than the potentially-gloopy scoop of commercial vanilla ice cream.

and on to the troubleshooting with frozen yogurt. firstly, do yourself a favor for this, and from now on in general, and buy full fat yogurt. it is inevitably easier on your digestive system to eat milk protein with the fat that comes with it. the proteins and fat-soluble vitamins in milk are most efficiently broken down, used and flushed through the system with milk fat. indeed, de-fatted milk taxes your body by foraging for other fats that are less compatible in unravelling the proteins and making use of the healthful vitamins and other nutrients in milk. (this is true with any animal product.  eat chicken with the skin, eat the fine rind of pork on a pork chop, etc. etc. it's not that we don't seek to avoid saturated fats, its that we honor the animal by eating it in moderation, in tact, to be used by our bodies as we evolved to use them. just a thought.) the upshot of all of this is that the fat in the yogurt guards against the ice-cube like hardness that can crop up when making lowfat or fat-free frozen yogurt. it produces a velvety softness. the other strategy for avoiding hard frozen yogurt is to temper the custard with an egg white which adds to the nice texture. (if, like Liana Krissoff says, however, your immune system can't take it, omit the egg from the recipe below.)

so the recipe at last. this is adapted with love from Liana Krissoff's Canning for a New Generation. this book is vital for anyone seeking to put up food or scrabbling to make use of an over-large CSA share they were talked into going in on. essentially it is a recipe for jam (her recipe for plum cardamom jam is a delight,) cooked but pulled from the heat before the sugar can set it, folded into full fat yogurt and tipped into an ice cream maker for fifteen minutes.

for the fruit:

5 large plums, any variety, pitted and diced

2 cups coconut sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon freshly ground cardamom seeds

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon coriander

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

for the yogurt:

1 1/2 quarts whole milk, coconut, almond or soy yogurt.

1 egg separated

1/4 cup coconut sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons bourbon whiskey

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

in a small pot combine all ingredients for the fruit and bring to a boil, reduce to low and simmer about ten minutes, or until fruit is tender. remember that the fruit needs to be strongly flavored so as not to get lost in the yogurt. when slightly cool slowly whisk in the egg yolk. cool to room temperature and freeze until completely cold. overdo this step. chill it a while longer than you think, you and the ice cream maker will be happy you did.

beat the egg white with the cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form. add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks evolve. (omit this step if you're not into the raw egg bit. omit also the salt, cream of tartar and remaining 1/4 cup sugar.)

in a large bowl whisk the yogurt until homogenous and then fold in the plum mixture. deftly fold in the egg white, pour into ice cream maker and churn according to instructions. 

alternately, lacking an ice cream machine, pour the mixture in a wide, shallow pan (a roasting one works well.) leave in the freezer and take out after twenty minutes. scoop the crystallized edges in towards the runny middle and spread the runny middle out to the edges. repeat every twenty minutes to half an hour until  the middle no longer runs. then leave until completely frozen.