Why boil mixture when soaking fruit in alcohol for churn-free ice cream
I found a recipe for a No-churn rum and raisin ice cream.
In the recipe the first step is to put the raisins and rum in a saucepan and gently heat until boiling, transfer to a bowl, cover and leave to soak overnight.
I'm having trouble understand the need for boiling the mixture.
Why boil the rum and the raisins before leaving them to soak?
Wouldn't it be better to leave them to soak for a longer period of time?
Is this to speed-up the process?
Or is it to remove the alcohol?
Will the alcohol prevent the ice cream from freezing properly or give an undesirable structure/texture to the ice cream?
Best Answer
I see a couple of reasons for bringing the small amount of rum and the raisins to a boil. First, this process will plump the raisins fairly quickly. Secondly, much of the alcohol will evaporate. Alcohol freezes at a much lower temperature than water. So, alcohol additions to ice cream make the final product softer. In this case, it would seem that given the no-churn technique, a little alcohol would be beneficial. So, you could leave them to soak without boiling, but it would take longer for your raisins to plump. So, alcohol will change the final texture, but you might like the result. It is possible to add too much alcohol. Max Falkowitz of Serious Eats writes that adding more than 5-6 tablespoons in a quart of ice cream base would result in an ice cream that doesn't freeze enough to be scoopable. If you eliminate the boil step, you will want to make sure you don't over do it with the amount of rum.
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What happens when you soak fruit in alcohol?
The taste of the fruit will start to change after only a few hours (think of soaking fruit for a punch), from then the extraction of fruit flavours into the alcohol continues. For this approach, choose a liquor that complements your fruit because it will remain quite discernible.Do you have to soak fruit in alcohol?
Flour & other ingredients are only used to bind these fruits together. The one and only trick is to keep the fruits moist and juicy before baking. For that fruits need to be soaked in alcohol (preferable brandy; rum. sherry also works well) properly for 1 month or upto a year.What is it called when you soak fruit in alcohol?
Maceration is a process of breaking down and softening various substances. In food preparation, the process most often occurs when soaking fruit in sugar, alcohol, or other flavored liquids with the goals of softening and flavoring the fruit.How long does alcohol soaked fruit last?
As a general rule of thumb, 3-5 days is the perfect amount for most infusions. And don't worry - even if you're using fresh fruit, you don't have to worry about anything going bad. The alcohol prevents any mold from growing on the fruit, so even after you strain it, you can keep it for years.Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream the Old-Fashioned Way
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