A question for the Bakers

[pitmonkey]

this is where I get my flavorings from. http://www.faeriesfinest.com/index.html They are not the cheapest but they are good.

[firecat88]

I'm not a baker, nor do I play one on TV, but I do know a few things about flavors and such.

If you're doing anything with lavender or any other herb, be super ridiculously careful. It's possible for it to taste just fine in the batter or in the ice cream mix before you put it in the machine, and for the final product to be overpowering. The thing about lavender is that the line between 'just right' and 'edible soap' borders on non-existent and it's amazingly easy to put too much.

[KiaKat]

*nods* for any aromatic (this goes for edible barks, too), it's SO easy to overdo it. Always start with far less than you think you need. That's one reason extracts are so popular - the flavour proportion is already worked out, and it's much less overpowering than a fresh infusion.

Also - a hint with infusing fruits - for anything that has skin, use some of the skin. This goes mostly for citrus, but can also help with apple, berry, peach, and pear. There's a lot of flavour in skin!

[thansal]

RE: Separating butterfat - don't boil the liquid. You want it to JUST barely come to a steam. Even better is a double-boiler; put a metal bowl on top of a saucepot, with about 2" (5cm) water boiling in the pot (keep checking and make sure it doesn't boil dry). Then put the cream mixture in the bowl, with the infusion. Should keep the cream at the right temp.

Heh, nah it separated because I mechanically separated, just like you would if you wanted to actually make butter, because I'm an idiot and didn't think of that (you can easily make butter by pouring heavy cream in a Cuisinart and letting it go) :P

I figure the recipe would work if you used an immersion blender (like they said) and only blended the mint into the milk, not the milk and the cream (as they said).

however, the next attempt at mint will be via muddling it and then straining it out after steeping.

I'm not a baker, nor do I play one on TV, but I do know a few things about flavors and such.

If you're doing anything with lavender or any other herb, be super ridiculously careful. It's possible for it to taste just fine in the batter or in the ice cream mix before you put it in the machine, and for the final product to be overpowering. The thing about lavender is that the line between 'just right' and 'edible soap' borders on non-existent and it's amazingly easy to put too much.

I don't have that problem. I think lavender is a terrible thing in general, and my GF loves it to death, so she will eat anything I make with it :P. Fairway sells very nice dried lavender that makes some great tea or ice cream. Lavender + honey made for a very nice ice cream, next time I need to find a better honey though (the honey I used had a very strong flavor, so it was a bit more honey than I had wanted).

I'm starting to think that I really just have to bight the bullet and start making reductions instead of buying flavoring agents...

[dalesys]

There's a lot of flavour in skin!

I'll say!