It has taken Jimmy so long to bring this ice down from the ice house I'm surprised that
on a hot day like today more of it hasn't melted!
I had wondered if he had gone to Alaska himself for it.
Anyway, as it's so hot I think it would be nice for the family to have cucumber ice cream
with their dinner.
And to make it you will need:
One Large Cucumber Four Ounces of Sugar
Half a Pint of Water A Generous Amount of Ginger Brandy
A Little Green Food Colouring The Juice of Two Lemons
And a Pint of Sweetened Cream
To start, take the large cucumber, peel it and then de-seed it.
Then chop it, and cook it until tender with the water and sugar.
While the cucumber is still warm, pound it to soften it a little and then add a little
green food colouring.
Then you add the brandy and the lemon juice.
Once you have put the cucumber mix through a Tammy sieve to make it smooth, then you
can add the sweetened cream, sweetened to your taste.
Now that you've made your mix, it's time to freeze your ice cream.
Lord Braybrooke has bought me one of these little ice cream makers and it contains in
the middle a metal container that turns around and inside is a little paddle so you can turn
the mix constantly.
The lid goes on and then the mechanism - when you turn the handle - turns both the container
and the mix at once.
Ice around it is not enough on its own.
You need to add a little salt all the way around the outside to keep it nice and cool.
And then all you need to do is add your mix, and turn until it's frozen.
If you don't work in a house as grand as this, and you haven't got your own ice cream maker,
then you can simply use a metal container in a large bowl of ice with salt, and then
you turn the container and stir the mix yourself.
Now that your mix is the consistency of a batter, it's time to put your ice cream into
a mould.
There are lots of different types of ice cream moulds.
You can make small ones like this here, and then with these moulds all you need to do
is seal the edges with butter to make sure it doesn't freeze or frost up.
Or you can use one of the larger moulds and then you put it in your ice box.
If you don't fancy moulding your ice cream you can serve it in a glass bowl and then
garnish.
Cucumber ice cream.