This is a very rich and delicious ice cream. My recipe is based on that found in Ben and Jerry’s® "Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.©" for their French Vanilla ice cream but I have modified their recipe to get what I want in a Pistachio ice cream. Thus, it took me a time or so to get it right. Now it is perfect and you get the benefit of my experience. Actually, as you will read below, I have two great recipes for making this ice cream.

The key to making great Pistachio Ice Cream is to: 1) Ignore whatever you find on the Internet or in books that virtually always call for making a custard base (but see below) and that never include the use of a concentrated flavor pistachio nut extract, and 2) Get acquainted with Internet sites that sell special flavor concentrates that are, let's be honest, part of a much larger industry of manufactured flavors for all kinds of foods from hamburgers to soft drinks. Recently, I have been buying concentrates for numerous flavors from Olivenation.com.

Think about it. Ben and Jerry do not provide a recipe for pistachio ice cream, yet you know they make it. The point is they know that the typical person making ice cream at home will not have flavor concentrates. It is time to upgrade your food pantry to include those products for many different dishes, so as to compete successfully with great restaurants and even premium frozen entree's in the supermarket, not to mention makers of premium ice creams.

Well, the obvious point is that you want to make fine ice cream regardless of the flavor. Use this recipe and you and your family and guests will be quite pleased with your product.

Ah, to be candid, now that Food Nirvana has a great recipe for Custard Ice Cream Base, I have to eat some of my words above regarding the use of a custard base. In short, you can make the Food Nirvana recipe for Custard Ice Cream Base, chill it, and skip the ingredients and directions related to the first four ingredients shown below. Proceed with the addition of the other ingredients, etc. You will be amazed with the extra creamy and rich tasting result.

Ingredients: (makes about 1½ quarts of ice cream)

2 jumbo eggs plus two egg yolks

2 cups of heavy cream

¾ cup of sugar

1 cup of milk

3/4 tsp. of Olivenation's® Super Flavor Pistachio Extract

1 tsp. of vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. of almond extract

1 cup of chopped, shelled roasted pistachio nuts (salted or unsalted ... your choice)

A few drops of green food coloring

Directions:

Turn on the gelato maker to prechill it.

Chop the pistachio nuts and put them into a bowl, then put the bowl into the freezer.

Use your electric mixer to beat the eggs and the egg yolks on medium speed, then pause to add the sugar, the vanilla extract, the almond extract, the green food coloring and the Super Flavor Pistachio Extract and resume mixing. Mix for three minutes.

Slowly add the cream and the milk while continuing to mix. Mix for one to two minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a gelato maker (which you started about ten minutes earlier) and, if you didn't think to prechill it, turn it on. After about 25 minutes check the ice cream to see if it is fairly stiff. If necessary continue to run the gelato maker for an additional ten minutes.

Add the chopped pistachio nuts and run the gelato maker for three minutes.

Transfer the ice cream from the gelato maker into a good quality 1½ to 2 quart plastic container that has a tight fitting lid. Put the lid on the ice cream and put the container into a deep freeze for four to six hours.

The ice cream is then ready to serve. It is delicious!

Yes, you can bow as your audience applauds!

Later, you can wonder why so many essential facts about making excellent food products are kept out of the public domain. I think you really do know the answer, right?

Notes:

The temperature of a deep freeze is typically lower than that of the freezer of your refrigerator, and that means the deep freeze is superior to your refrigerator freezer in the last step of final freezing of the ice cream. Use your deep freeze and the ice cream will be ready within a few hours. Conversely, the freezer of your refrigerator may not properly freeze the ice cream at all (it depends in part on how you set your freezer settings), and even if it does you may have to wait until the next day to eat the ice cream properly frozen.