Pine needle ice cream

Name: Pine needle ice cream
Total time: 7 h
Yield: ± 750 ml
Ingredients: 20 g fresh Weymouth pine needles (a generous handful); 250 ml whole milk; 250 ml double cream; 4 egg yolks; 100 g sugar; 1 pinch of salt

Updated on 9 October 2026

Makes: ± 750 ml
Time: 1 hr + 6 hrs freezing
From: Weymouth pine

Ingredients

20 g fresh Weymouth pine needles (a generous handful)
250 ml whole milk
250 ml double cream
4 egg yolks
100 g sugar
1 pinch of salt

Method

Pick fresh, green needles from a pine you can identify with certainty (never yew). Cut the needles into 1 cm pieces and bruise them lightly with a rolling pin.
Heat the milk and cream with the needles to just below boiling point. Take the pan off the heat, cover and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Strain, pressing the needles well.
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and salt in a bowl until pale.
Heat the milk again to just below boiling point and pour it in a thin stream onto the yolks, whisking vigorously. Pour everything back into the pan.
Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard coats the back of the spoon (± 80 °C). Do not let it boil.
Strain the custard, leave to cool completely and chill for 2 hours. Churn in an ice-cream machine, or pour into a tub in the freezer and beat firmly with a fork every 30 minutes for the first 2 hours.

Storing: 2 months in the freezer; it is best in the first week. Move the ice cream to the fridge 10 minutes before scooping.