Cherimoya Ice cream (Custard Apple/Sitafal Icecream) without eggs

What is Cherimoya fruit? In Spanish speaking countries it is known as cherimoya.  However most of the rest of the English speaking world refers to it as custard apple. In India it is known as Sitafal and in Urdu it is called Sharifa.  Sitafal ice cream is one of the most popular ice cream flavors in India. The cherimoya (Annona cherimola), also spelled chirimoya and called chirimuya by the Inca people, is a species of edible fruit-bearing plant in the genus Annona, from the family Annonaceae, which includes the closely related sweetsop and soursop. The plant has long been believed to be native to Ecuador and Peru with cultivation practiced in the Andes and Central America, although a recent hypothesis postulates Central America as the origin instead, because many of the plant's wild relatives occur in this area. The name is derived from the Quehua word chirimuya, which means "cold seeds". The plant grows at high altitudes, where the weather is colder, and the seeds will germinate at higher altitudes^.

In Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia, the fruit is commonly known as chirimoya (spelled according to the rules of the Spanish language). Cherimoya is grown in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world including Central America, eastern South America, Southern California South Asia, Australia  the Mediterranean region and North Africa.  American writer Mark Twain called the cherimoya "the most delicious fruit known to men". The creamy texture of the flesh gives the fruit its secondary name, the custard apple. 

 

The ripened flesh is creamy white. When ripe, the skin is green and gives slightly to pressure. Some characterize the fruit flavor as a blend of banana, pineapple, papaya, peach, and strawberry. The fruit can be chilled and eaten with a spoon, which has earned it another nickname, the "ice cream fruit". In India, Peru,  and Chile,  it is commonly used in ice creams and yogurt. When the fruit is ripe and still has the fresh, fully mature green-yellow skin color, the texture is like that of a soft-ripe pear and papaya. When the skin turns brown at room temperature, the fruit is no longer good for human consumption

Here in US where I am, the fresh Cherimoya is not available all the time, so I decided to make this ice cream out of frozen Cherimoya pulp available in local Indian grocers.  Of course the frozen pulp is not same as fresh fruit. but not bad and you don't have to worry about taking the seeds out as the fresh fruit has lots of seeds.  Also when I make egg less ice cream I always use condensed milk, but I was out of condensed milk so just used the powdered sugar this time.
Here are the ingredients I used for this ice cream. you can adjust sweetness according to your taste.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of Cherimoya thawed frozen pulp {frozen pack comes in 1 kg (36 oz) pack.}
  
• 1 cup of powdered sugar (or you can use 1  can of condensed milk, I used 1 cup of powdered sugar since I did not have condensed milk)
  
• 1 cup of dry milk powder
• 2 cans of evaporated milk
• One 16 oz carton of chilled heavy whipping cream 
• 6 Maria Biscuit (I used Goya brand)
• 2 tsp vanilla
  

• You will need an ice cream maker for this, I used Cuisinart frozen yogurt  maker for this, you have to put the container in the freezer for at least 8 hours prior to making ice cream.
• If using any other brand, you can follow instruction per package. 
• Also place a stainless steel bowl to chill in fridge to whisk the whipping cream prior to adding to ice cream mix.
  
• This recipe will make one gallon of ice cream, you can cut the recipe down to half to make 1/2 gallon.
  

For this recipe you will have to use the ice cream maker twice, once you can make half of the recipe you can put the remaining mix in the fridge when you ice cream maker is ready for use or you can just cut the recipe in half as I mentioned earlier.

I made this recipe for one gallon  because the frozen pulp comes in pack of 1 kg (36 ozs) and did not want to freeze the thawed fruit again.

Method: 

• Empty the thawed fruit pulp in a large bowl.
  
• In a separate bowl add powdered sugar, milk powder,  and Marie biscuits. Set aside. (you can grind the biscuits in food processor prior to this but I did not as the soften in milk anyways)
• In another chilled bowl whisk the cold heavy whipping cream until thickens a little.
  
• Add evaporated milk and vanilla.
• Add whisked whipping cream.

• With hand blender mix and whisk everything together until all the lumps  are gone and the biscuits are well blended. Add this mixture to the large bowl with thawed Cherimoya pulp.
• If not using condensed milk you can taste the mix and see if it needs more powdered sugar, you can add accordingly.
• Mix well. 
• Place the mix in the ice cream maker and follow instruction per your ice cream maker.
• Cuisinart   usually requires 35-40 min for ice cream to take its form.

• Once done, transfer the ice cream in ice cream container to store it in the freezer.

• Scoop out in to individual bowl and garnish with mint or curry leaves and Marie biscuit if desired.

Enjoy !!

Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.

Cherimoya info source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherimoyahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License