Should you build pyramids of ice cream, dripping with sauce, speckled with toppings in the form of fruit, nuts, coconut, or try minimalist elegance? The choice of course is up to the dessert preparer. However, as history shows, the first ice cream desserts owed their taste to simplicity.

In antiquity, starting from China, through Greece, and ending with Rome, ice cream was prepared by mixing snow or crushed ice with juices, nectars, honey or pieces of thick fruit flesh. Unlike other desserts, fancy and exaggerated, also the most outstanding ideas of serving ice cream in history were simple, based only on a sense of color and texture. An example is the famous ice cream dessert called Melba, invented by the French chef August Escoffier in 1890 to celebrate the opera diva of the same nickname. In this recipe, the usual vanilla ice cream poured into a cup was covered with peach halves and doused with raspberry sauce. As a result, the French master obtained a contrast of juicy red with a warm color of peach and light vanilla ice cream, and a perfect combination of sour and sweet flavors.

Ice cream storage

Before starting to prepareice cream dessert , we should remember a few basic things. Ice cream should be stored at a temperature of -18 degrees or lower. We buy ice cream for desserts, so in nearby stores, and if we buy it in hypermarkets, use special thermal bags that keep the temperature of the ice cream. While ice cream should be well-frozen during storage, the one we eat should be at a temperature of around -5 degrees. Then they will get a good consistency and taste the best. Ice cream that is too frozen is difficult to cut and eat. Too dissolved, they lose their taste and appearance. We absolutely should not freeze ice cream that has already dissolved.

Setting the ice cream dessert

First, you need to select an appropriate pan. Ice cream can be served traditionally in cups, glasses, cognacs or even on plates. We have a lot to show off on the latter. We can build fancy ice cream compositions, arrange individual dessert elements on the plate, such as sauces, fruit or sweet decorations. However, we should remember to use the colors of glass or porcelainit was in harmony with the pattern of our ice cream. When serving ice cream on the right side of the dish, always place a teaspoon, preferably on a napkin. There are hundreds of ways to serve ice cream. One of the more interesting is the way of serving ice cream inside the fruit, already used in ancient Rome. The role of a natural cup can be played by pineapple, melon, papaya, passion fruit and all citrus fruits. With the latter, however, care should be taken that the bitter substances contained in the citrus peels do not spoil the taste of the dessert. Therefore, let's fill them with ice cream no earlier than an hour before serving.

Additions to ice cream desserts

When the shell of the fruit serves as a bowl, the hollow flesh should be used to decorate the prepared dessert. Fruit pulp, liqueurs, and fruit sauces are the perfect additions that we can use to decorate our composition with paints, creating patterns on the plate or pouring them over ice cream. The easiest way to make fruit sauce is to mix fresh fruit with sugar (0.5 kg of sugar per 1 kg of fruit) and season the mixture with lemon juice. We recommend fruits with a distinctive aroma: raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, peaches. You can also pour a little cognac, vodka or even champagne on the ice cream. Another addition to ice cream are whole or halved fresh fruit, as well as fruit made from syrup or jam. Ice cream can be decorated with coconut flakes, almond flakes, peanuts, walnuts or hazelnuts (whole or chopped), uns alted and chopped pistachios, ground coffee, grated chocolate, pastilles or chocolate strands. You can decorate the dessert with more elaborate decorations, fruit embedded in chocolate or herbal leaves - lemon balm and mint. The sweet taste of ice cream is emphasized by lemon peels, raisins and candied fruit. You can sprinkle them on ice cream or place bowls filled with them on the table, so that everyone can have what they like the most.

Combining unusual flavors in ice cream desserts

Greeks love candied violets in ice cream, and in Thai cuisine, fresh flowers, such as orchids, are added to the ice cream. We, on the other hand, recommend experimenting and trying to combine seemingly opposing flavors. Chocolate ice cream can be combined with sweet chilli sauce and coriander, cream ice cream with pumpkin sauce and roasted almonds. Lemon sherbet instead of lemon is perfect for salmon slices, and strawberry ice cream goes perfectly with balsamic sauce. The possibilities are almost endless, modern chefs already serve hot ice cream, of course, rather in winter. It is important to remember that some additives can greatly increase the calorific value of ice cream desserts and therefore it is good to prepare them forspecial occasions. Cream ice cream or sorbets are not high-calorie. If we want to eat them more often, without harming our figure, let's add low-calorie additives such as fruit or fresh herbs.

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