My husband knows that when he wants to buy me a special treat, it’s ice cream.
There is just something about it, I’d take it any day over chocolate candies. I even eat it all winter long!
But can it be healthy for you? Can a cool and creamy treat made nutrient dense ingredients and with probiotics be too good to be true?
Absolutely not!
This ice cream is made with fresh kefired cream and whole milk, making it rich in probiotics, and slightly tangy, much like real frozen yogurt. You can also reduce the length of fermenting time for your family’s taste buds, starting with 6-8 hours and increasing it each time you make it.
Vanilla kefir ice cream
Vanilla Kefir Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups raw cream
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 3 pastured egg yolks
- 1/8 or a large pinch celtic sea salt
- 1/2 – 3/4 cup real maple syrup honey, or whole cane sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla OR 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 vanilla bean
Instructions
- Combine cream and milk (you can use all cream if you prefer – I just never get that much with my cow share) and let sit out overnight, or at least 12 hours, with kefir grains. This cultures the dairy and gives it wonderful probiotic properties while also making it easier to digest! In the morning strain out the grains and place into the refrigerator to cool completely.
- About one hour (or more) before making the ice cream, stir the remaining ingredients into the cream mixture and place back in the fridge. This will make sure everything is nice and cold when it goes into the ice cream maker.
- Pour into your ice cream maker and follow manufacturers directions. (mine takes 30 minutes)
For me, ice cream is the one “treat” I miss the most when I stick to a whole foods diet! Having a tasty option that I know is also good for me keeps me from heading down the frozen food aisle at the supermarket.
Donielle Baker
Donielle, I really go back and forth on the gluten subject. I was gluten free for over a year, and then slowly added properly prepared wheat/spelt/kamut/eemer back into my diet. I can handle it fine, but I often wonder if its just healthier to stay gluten free always? One of the reasons I decided to add wheat back into my diet is because I read that bread was eaten all through the scriptures (first being mentioned in Genesis). I also went back through the work of Weston A Price, and I read about groups of people who ate bread as their main source of food. I believe it was the secluded Swiss village who ate sourdough rye bread daily, lots of cheese and raw dairy, fresh veggies from the garden, and only ate meat once a week.
I would be interested to read why your wheat free (if you haven’t posted it already)? I went gluten free because I was slightly allergic and had bloating and cramping after eaten wheat =(. This doesn’t happen when I eat soaked, soured, or sprouted wheat.
Thanks!
@Tiffany@ The Coconut Mama, Have you had a chance to listen to the podcast I posted on Monday? If not – take a listen. Dr. O’Bryan specifically comments on the thought that you can heal your gut after wheat sensitivities.
I don’t think bread is inherently bad – people who can tolerate it should feel free to do so! I do think that the common wheat we see today is very different from what was used even just 100 years ago though. And I also don’t think we should be eating as many grains as we do.
We are now completely gluten free because my husband has wheat issues. Last year he went GF for about 6 months and then we started to slowly add back in spelt here and there. he seemed to do fine, though would get muscle aches if he ate to much. We thought he just had a limit. Over this summer we heard another speech that Dr. O’Bryan had done and were completely convicted that he had not ‘healed’ his gut – gluten was just damaging his body again slowly – what the doctor refers to as ‘silent celiac’. It worries us as many of our family members have auto immune diseases (HUGE gluten connection there) and the fact that my husband himself has direct symptoms from it and I have PCOS (about 80% have gluten sensitivities). And because we also choose to eat a mostly primal (no grains legumes about 90% of the time) cutting out gluten is a very easy thing to do for us. We focus on meat and veggies with grains and fruit occasionally.
@donielle, Thanks for the quick replay Donielle! I have not had a chance to listen. I think I need to re-add your blog to my blogroll, its not updating your posts =(.
I think this subject is very interesting! I’ll be listening to the podcast this morning.
Thanks!
@Tiffany@ The Coconut Mama, I switched from feedburner to feedblitz a month ago – if people didn’t resubscribe – they lost me. 🙁
@donielle, Great interview! I love bread, Donielle! =(
He made some very good points. I wanted to ring his neck when he talked about vaccinations, though I know he was just using that as an example. I may go back to 100% gluten free…its really not hard. I just miss real bread. I would also like to get tested to see if I truly am gluten sensitive (I 99% sure I am). I have family history of auto immune diseases too. I have seven cousins diagnosed with celiac and one with crhon’s,
Thanks for information, Donielle!
@Tiffany@ The Coconut Mama, I know what you mean about the vax stuff. 🙂 But the way he said it REALLY made sense to me! We’d all like to get tested too – but I don’t know if our insurance will cover it……
Hi,
did my link up for Oat Flour Pasta work? I tried it twice & don’t want to try again in case they’re all going to show up in a couple of minutes. I’m here in Rwanda (Africa) where the internet coverage is spotty & slower than in the US, so maybe it’s not going through?
@lisa, Just link it in the comments – I’ll make sure it gets posted if it doesn’t come through in a few minutes! Thanks for participating!
@donielle, thanks- the post is at http://walknt.blogspot.com/2010/09/wheatless-sucess-oat-flour-pasta.html
Did you use water kefir grains or dairy grains?
@Dee Anne, I use dairy grains anytime I make kefir with milk. I’ve heard the water grains will work in a pinch though!
I like your approach to gluten-free. I don’t like mainstream approach at all. I think most people who go gluten-free simply replace gluten grains with a large amount of non-gluten grains, especially rice. These are so starchy that I think it’s not really affording them any benefit at all.
For my own family, I know they have done better both on properly prepared grains (wheat, usually) than on none — and the same goes for raw dairy vs. none or “dairy substitutes.” Whole foods, properly prepared, ALWAYS trump man-made substitutes, which is why if you must be “free” of something you have to just focus on the foods you CAN eat and not go looking for subs constantly. I know it’s hard, we were free of all dairy, grains, nuts, legumes, and seeds at one point. We managed and are much better now.
Just wanted to share that thought.
could you use all kefir milk? I don’t have access to raw cream.
@annalise, You could – but like when you make regular ice cream with all whole milk, it won’t be near as ‘creamy’. You can always buy cream from the store and place some kefir grains in that as well. (the healthiest option would be organic of course, but also not ultra pasteurized)
I love this recipe, are y ou able to use raw honey instead of maple syrup? Also, can you use a dairy free alternative and if so what would you suggest, almond milk?
@Simone, I’m sure you could easily sub honey for the maple syrup in this recipe. As for dairy alternatives, I prefer to use coconut milk for a few reasons, though I don’t know how to “kefir” it. My friend Kimi has some coconut ice cream recipes on her site at http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com
Does freezing alter, lessen or destroy the benefit of the live cultures or effect them in any way?
Not that I know of. I often freeze my extra kefir grains and they come right back once and begin fermenting once at room temp again. And even if eating them frozen , much of the benefits have already happened to the cream and milk.