Lucuma is a Peruvian fruit with a waxy-looking flesh the color of kabocha squash, but the flesh itself is soft and custardy like a ripe avocado, and tastes distinctly like butterscotch. To me, lucuma is like durian minus the funk — channeling exotic, fruity notes of caramel. Unfortunately, you can’t really find lucuma outside of South America — fresh, that is. Here in the U.S. you’ll find dehydrated lucuma (Moon Juice sells jarred lucuma as a low-glycemic index sweetener), but when you use lucuma as sugar and mixed with other ingredients, you miss out on the fruit’s own unique flavor. Eat lucuma on its own or try it with creamy foods (which it pairs beautifully with — especially ice cream!)
INGREDIENTS
1 13½ ounce can Coconut Milk
⅙th teaspoon Ground Clove
1 Vanilla Bean (seeds scraped out) or 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
3 tablespoons Honey
4 tablespoons Lucuma Powder
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Kudzu Starch*
½ Peach (cut into ½ inch cubes)
ASSEMBLY
1 | In a medium saucepan, combine coconut milk, clove, whole vanilla bean and seeds, honey, lucuma, salt and kudzu.
2 | Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and comes to a simmer (about 4 minutes).
3 | Remove vanilla bean.
4 | Pour mixture into blender and blend 30 seconds.
5 | Pour mixture through sieve and transfer to ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions, adding the peach in 10 minutes before ice cream is complete.
6 | Remove ice cream from maker and transfer to air-tight container. Store in freezer.
*Kudzu, found in Japanese cuisine, is a starch that comes from the kudzu plant. You can but it at markets such as Whole Foods, or on Amazon.
