Beet Goat Cheese Honey Pistachio Ice Cream

Yes, this ice cream really does turn a beet salad into an ice cream. This wasn’t my first vegetable-based dessert, but it was definitely one of the most unusual.

Sam Mason, a chef from New York City, is the author of the recipe. To get the beet liquid, I went to my local juice bar and asked them to juice some beets. These went into the ice cream base, along with several forms of dairy, sugar and egg yolks. I made a few small alterations: using about 5 oz of sugar, and only 4 oz of yolks in total.

The honeyed-pistachio-goat cheese mix-in recipe seemed excessive also, so I cut back on both the nuts and honey. The churned base was nearly spilling out of my KitchenAid canister, so I folded the goat cheese mixture by hand in a large plastic container.

Despite my earnest promotion to friends and family, none of my tasters really embraced this earthy ice cream. And truth be told, I must admit that root vegetables don’t really appeal to me in a frozen dessert. The base tastes distinctly of beets, and the tangy goat cheese didn’t really appeal to me either.