Raw Coconut Lime Ice Cream

I’ve been wanting to do raw coconut lime ice cream for some time now, so when this month’s Twitter food party theme was ice cream, I jumped at the chance to make it.  I had dug out my ice cream maker I was given as a child and set to work gathering ingredients.

Towards the end of my years in school in Alberta, I was on a mostly-raw, vegan diet, mostly due to being on a strict budget.  It so happened that I shed a significant amount of weight without trying too hard as well, which was a really nice by-product.  The raw vegan diet is attractive to a lot of people because the desserts are healthy for you and extremely tasty and decadent.  But because they are highly nut based, they are high in fat and calories as well, so many people find they actually gain weight at first because they dive right in without doing the proper planning and food balancing.  I was fortunate to have a great coach, so I avoided that.  She did, however, mention raw coconut ice cream many, many times, so I’ve always wanted to try my hand at it.

Donvier manual ice cream maker

My little Donvier ice cream maker is very simple, and you have to crank the ice cream by hand.  I love it because it’s small and super cute.  You have to pre-freeze the inner aluminum container for seven hours minimum before you make your ice cream, so planning ahead is important.  They actually suggest you just store it in the freezer so it’s ready whenever you feel the urge for ice cream, and now that Vancouver’s summer is finally starting, the urge will be more frequent I’m sure.

Nowadays, ice cream makers are fully automatic and do all the work for you, but I love my little manual ice cream maker.  It goes back to the days of making everything with elbow grease and love, and I think I find it therapeutic.

I used a mallet and sharp, pick-like instrument to punch intermittent holes in the top to weaken it and create a cap to pry off.

I picked up a fresh, young coconut from the store.  I’m not equipped or skilled enough to hack off the end with a machete all in one blow like the well-muscled guys on the beach in Hawaii, so I grabbed a mallet and pick-like instrument and made intermittent jabs into the top to weaken a “cap” and then pried it off.  You need to be careful to do this over a concave surface like a tray or shallow bowl because the coconut water will start dribbling out once the cap loosens at all.

As you can see, the coconut meat when the coconut is this young is a very jelly-like consistency and attaches to the walls of the coconut.  Also, the water fills up almost the entire fruit.    You simply pour out the water and scrape the meat from the inside walls with a spoon.  Discard/compost the outer husk/shell.

Coconut water has tremendous nutritive properties and is like nature’s gatorade.  Many Bikrams yogis drink it to restore electrolytes and rehydrate the body.

Pour out the coconut water and scoop out the jelly-like coconut meat.

Raw agave syrup, fresh lime, vanilla, pink Himalayan salt

You take the coconut meat and water and blend in the blender to make a smooth consistency.  Add 2 tablespoons of raw agave syrup, which is a naturally sweet syrup derived from the agave plant, 1/2 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, the juice of one lime and a pinch of finely grated ginger (or just the juice of the ginger if you don’t want the fibrous bits in your ice cream).  Blend all ingredients until smooth, pour into your ice cream maker and follow as directed.

I don’t normally add any salt to my cooking, but when I do, pink Himalayan salt is the only salt I do use and the only salt I keep in my house.  It is a full-spectrum, raw salt and has the full 84 minerals and trace elements.  You can think of the comparison to regular table salt like you would with raw cane sugar compared to refined/processed white sugar, which has no benefit to the body whatsoever.

Raw Coconut Lime Ice Cream

Because of the high water content in this recipe, this ice cream turns out more like a sorbet or shaved ice.  It tastes like a pina colada, and I was very tempted to put a dash of rum in it.  Not a bad thing I suppose.

If you wanted a creamier consistency, simply cut back on the coconut water and put a higher ratio of coconut meat in.  The meat carries higher amounts of the fruit’s fat and cream.

I finished it with the zest of a lime and a wee tart made from leftover rye pastry for my blueberry pie this morning.  Yum!

Cheers and good eats,

Silver

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