Homemade ice cream is a spring flavor you didn't know you've been missing.
Prep time: PT20M
Rating
4.99 stars (53 reviews)
Keywords
Ice Cream, Spruce Ham, Spruce Tips
Ingredients
3 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh spruce tips
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 teaspoon lime juice
Categories
Dessert
Cuisine
American
Steps
On low, heat the cream sugar, salt, and egg yolks in a small sauce pan, stirring occasionally until the mixture is hot and thickens slightly. Do not whisk it, just stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, then transfer to a blender.
Chop the spruce tips well, then add to the blender and puree until smooth and light green in color, about 30 seconds.
When the mixture is pureed, pass it through a fine mesh strainer. Allow the custard to sit in the fridge overnight, which will give a better texture in the finished product. Before spinning, whisk in the lime juice.
Place the spruce custard in the bowl of an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturers directions. Mine usually takes about 45 minutes.
Reviews
Lisa on 2026-07-30 (5 stars): If you have a stand mixer, you can also buy a bowl to use with that instead of purchasing an ice cream maker. Ours works very well with this recipe but tends to be freezer ready in closer to 20 minutes.
Nancy on 2026-06-11 (5 stars): Never imagined using trees to make ice cream!! I went on a field trip with my grandson and his teacher pointed out all the things that were edible in the forest. She spoke about memories of her mom making her custard desserts from spruce tips. I’ve made a lot of ice cream so I thought I’d start with that. I’m so happy I found your website! I made the ice cream exactly as you described and it turned out perfectly! Silky and smooth, sweet and flavourful. As a matter of fact, I’ll be chilling my custard overnight every time now. This was a beautiful recipe and I’ll be proud to gift it to my grandson’s lovely teacher.
I’ve signed up for your newsletter AND ordered your book! So inspiring.
Ryan on 2025-06-21 (5 stars): Thanks! The wooden spoon did fix the foam issue but didn't get rid of the grit. But I think I solved it after playing around a little more (sharing in case anyone has the same issue). I think the grit might have been from the woody end of the spruce tips where the needles come together. The grit was persisting even through my strainer. When I trimmed just that little bit off and discarded it, and I used just the dark green part of the needles, the result ended up smooth like it should be. I'm on the West Coast so I wonder if species makes a difference, or maybe my strainer just isn't the best. Anyway, I made it a few times now and this is a great recipe, thanks for sharing it!
Tim B on 2024-07-01 (5 stars): I had great success making this with balsam fir tips which are local to where I live in coastal British Columbia. This has inspired me on a journey of forager's ice creams. Rose Petal ice cream was also amazing where the rose essence was extracted by processing the petals with sugar before finishing the base with cream. I would like to try sweet grass ice cream next as it is plentiful right now in our yard.
My question:
Is there a rule of thumb for extracting the flavour from fresh foraged ingredients for ice cream? So far I have heard of (1) blended into the cooled base (2) processed with sugar and (3) steeped as a tea in the heated cream.
Bri on 2024-06-11 (5 stars): We’ve been making this recipe every spring for three years, and it’s so dang good. This year I’m freezing leftover spruce tips so we can make a batch later in summer as well.
