Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

This post is from The First Oyster, a blog by Cat Harris. Check it out for more great local food ideas.

With summer in full swing, strawberries are literally choking the farmers markets. We at Farm to Table put out a call for a way to make use of all these delicious, sun-soaked berries. This recipe is perfect not only because it is something other than the traditional strawberries and cream, a pie, or jam, but because it’s also a frozen treat, making it the perfect summer refreshment. And you can use any kind of berry you find in season at your local market! Enjoy.

Over the past several weekends you could find me banging around in the kitchen with a mess of pots, bowls, and gallon jugs of milk. I’ve been playing around with homemade yogurt and cheese. Can’t say that I’ve quite mastered the mozz yet; one particularly bad episode made me briefly call into question whether I should even be cooking (a post for another day). I am, however, really happy with the yogurt.

I’ve used whole milk, skim milk, goat’s milk. Doesn’t seem to matter much–it all disappears rapidly. Still, I had enough leftover this weekend to start playing around with eating it for more than just breakfast. So I decided to try making strawberry frozen yogurt using berries from N Thyme Farms.

Strawberry: an obvious choice. The markets have been loaded with fresh strawberries lately. You could literally smell it in the air today just walking down the main aisle of the Regional Farmer’s Market. I sliced them up and soaked them in Grand Marnier for several hours to kick things off.

Goat’s milk, on the other hand: not so obvious. The only yogurt that I had on hand was made with goat’s milk. The made-up dialogue in my mind about how this was going to go over with the fam made me feel like I had jumped into the deep end of the health-nut pool.

Still, I’d always wondered about frozen yogurt sold at the chain stores–whether it is even really yogurt to begin with, and whether real yogurt could actually come out tasting anything like its venerable cousin ice cream without a lot of help. I figured what the hell, why not experiment. If it didn’t work, we still had Jeni’s ice cream in the freezer.

In terms of execution, I had two concerns. I was nervous that the goat’s milk would impart a little too much tang. And, goat’s milk yogurt tends to be a little runny compared to cow’s milk yogurt. But the batter set nicely and the end result was a smooth frozen yogurt with just the slightest tang, enough to be refreshing on a warm day.

To be on the safe side, however, I did make a white chocolate sauce for a topping. At least, that’s what I tell myself about why I took a relatively healthy dessert and covered it in chocolate, cream, and butter. It didn’t need the support, but I wasn’t exactly upset that my yogurt was swimming around in a soft white cloud of chocolate, either.

Once again, not a solid photo, but you get the idea. I will post a recipe next time I make it, having failed to measure anything.

RECIPE

• Special equipment
  • Ice cream maker
  • Containers: insulated containers designed for ice cream work well for longer storage, but you may also use a regular food storage container.
• Tips
  • Use a whole milk yogurt and/or Greek strained yogurt for a creamier consistency.
  • Lower fat content will produce a more “icy” version that still tastes good.  Extra water in the strawberries seems to do the same thing; I prefer smaller berries.
  • If you do not use goat’s milk, you can add a teaspoon of lemon juice for extra tang.
  • Keep the yogurt refrigerated until use. This will aid in the freezing process.

• Prep time: 3 hours
• Freezing time: 20 minutes

• Ingredients
  • 1 quart fresh strawberries, hulled
  • 2/3 cup cane sugar (1/2 cup for lower sugar option)
  • 1 tablespoon vodka (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 pint plain yogurt (preferably whole milk)

Place the strawberries in a small bowl; add sugar and toss. Using a potato masher, crush the strawberries. Add the vodka, if desired. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for several hours.

Transfer the strawberry mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl to remove any seeds (unless you prefer chunks of strawberry in the final product). Press on the strainer to be sure to get as much liquid to flow through as you can. Add the yogurt and vanilla to the strawberry mixture and stir until blended. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.