We all scream for ice cream

Rosalva Perez believes she has the best job in the world. Each March, the Liberal business owner opens her ice cream shop, La Michoacana, selling frozen treats to anyone looking to cool off on a hot day.

On Wednesday, Perez smiled and giggled with customers as she passed a fruit cocktail sprinkled with chili powder and a splash of lime to a young women.

The next customer ordered a watermelon and a pineapple popsicle. The customer told Perez he is visiting from El Paso, Texas, and her shop has the best popsicles.

Popsicles similar to the ones he has tasted in Mexico. She hears compliments like that regularly. She has built her business to provide Mexican-styled frozen treats to Liberal. The desserts she creates stem from her Mexican heritage and family recipes. Perez is originally from Los Angeles and moved to Liberal at 15.

“In Mexico, they have a lot of ice cream shops like mine,” said Perez. “I imagined if I bought something like that up here it would sell. A lot of people know what I sell just by the name of the business, La Michoacana. It is a state in Mexico. That is the name they use on these types of ice cream shops all over Mexico.” Perez opened La Michoacana in July 2005. Opening her own frozen treat shop had been a dream since she was young. Her cousin owns two ice cream shops in Juarez, Mexico and taught Perez how to make ice cream, popsicles and flavored water drinks.

“We make everything here,” said Perez. “I make all of our ice cream and store it in a freezer. I usually make my ice cream one day a week and it is not in the freezer longer than a week. Everything is fresh here.”
The popsicles are also homemade by Perez. She creates the icy treats in a variety of flavors: strawberry, raspberry, mint, mango and banana, just to name a few.

“The popsicles are the hardest part of the job,” said Perez. “They are heavy and it fits 40 in a container. I have to cut the fruit into pieces, add sugar and a little bit of coloring. Actually, the only thing that is artificial is the coloring. Other than that everything is natural.”

Hand-made signs accompany the home-made treats. A menu in English and Spanish hangs on the wall listing the options and prices. In addition to the ice cream, popsicles and flavored juice drinks, Perez offers strawberries and cream, fruit cocktail, snow cones and even, nachos.

The most ordered item by adults is the flavored juices or "aguas frescas." She offers flavors in pina colada, cantaloupe, lime and horchata. For children, the popsicles are the most popular.

Around October each year, Perez closes her shop for the season. The near-five months off allows her to spend time with her children and experiment with new ice cream and popsicle treat flavors.

“It gives my customers a break,” said Perez. “When it is snowy and icy outside people don't want ice cream. When I open again they really want to come in.”

As the temperatures begin to rise, so does business at La Michoacana, said Perez.

The shop's name has been great for Spanish-speaking customers but Perez believes the name might hesitate individuals in the community unfamiliar with traditional Mexican treats.

“I had to build my business on the name because people do know what I sell and come in,” said Perez. “If others knew what I sold, I know they would like it.”

La Michoacana is opened from noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The shop is located in the El Kan shopping center off North Kansas Avenue.

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Cherry Choconut Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups sliced Bing, Lapin or Sweetheart cherries
1 pint whipping cream
1 pint half and half
2 egg yolks (to eliminate risk of food poisoning from raw eggs, use pasteurized eggs product for this recipe)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped raw almonds
1/2 cup shaved dark chocolate (or to taste)

Whisk whipping cream, half and half, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add cherries and stir. Chill mixture for 30 minutes in freezer. Pour into ice cream maker canister.

Run machine until mixture reaches milkshake consistency. Add almonds and chocolate and mix until they're incorporated. Continue running machine until ice cream reaches desired consistency.

My Basic Cherry Ice Cream This ice-cream isn't overly sweet and is packed with big. juicy cherry chunks. It has a honey finish and tastes best the same day it is made.

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup honey (light flavored honey is best for this recipe)
3/4 pounds Bing, Lapin, or Sweetheart cherries, pitted and torn into chunks
3 tablespoons cherry liquor or cherry brandy or Amaretto

Place cream, milk, and honey in a medium saucepan. Stir to dissolve the honey. Heat over low to moderate heat, stirring from time to time, until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Be careful not to heat to a full-out boil.

Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Add the chopped cherries and liquor. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled. Don't skimp here or your ice-cream might not set up. Stir the mixture again to blend and transfer it to an ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer's instructions and eat the same day.

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Muesli ice cream

ingredients
makes 1 1/2 pints (900 ml)
1 pint (600 ml) milk
6 egg yolks
4 oz (100 g) caster sugar
5 fl oz (150 ml) double cream, whipped

for the flavouring
4 oz (125 g) muesli
method

1. Scald the milk and leave to cool for 15 minutes.

2. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and thick. Gradually stir in the strained milk. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 to 4 minutes until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not allow to boil, otherwise the eggs will curdle.

3. Press a circle of greaseproof paper or cling film on to the surface and leave until cold.

4. Fold in the whipped cream and flavouring (see below).

5. Spoon into a shallow container and freeze for 40 minutes or until the ice cream begins to harden round the edges.

6. Turn into a chilled bowl and whisk to break up the ice crystals. Return to the container and repeat the freezing and beating process once or twice more, depending on the required smoothness.

for the flavouring

Fold 4 oz (125 g) of your favourite unsweetened muesli mix into ice cream.

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Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Recipe

"After sampling this flavor at an ice cream stand, I kept trying to duplicate it until it was just right," relates Melissa Symington from Neche, North Dakota.Ingredients

* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 1/2 cup water
* 1-1/4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
*

GRAHAM CRACKER MIXTURE:
* 2-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 36 squares)
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 cup butter, melted

ICE CREAM:
* 1-1/2 cups sugar
* 1 package (3.4 ounces) instant cheesecake or vanilla pudding mix
* 1 quart heavy whipping cream
* 2 cups milk
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

* In a small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Stir in blueberries and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
* In a large bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in butter. Pat into an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.
* Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the ice cream ingredients. Fill ice cream freezer cylinder two-thirds full; freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze. Whisk before adding to ice cream freezer (mixture will have some lumps).

* Crumble the graham cracker mixture. In a large container, layer the ice cream, graham cracker mixture and blueberry sauce three times; swirl. Freeze. Yield: 2 quarts.

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Brace yourself for the mother of all cheeses

It's natural, free from additives and as locally sourced as you can get – and many of us have already had it so why aren't more people using breast milk?

Daniel Angerer, a chef in New York, is trying to change that. He has blogged about making cheese from the extra breast milk his wife has been producing since the birth of their daughter.

They had an overflow of pumped milk and were running out of space in the freezer. "To pour it down the drain," says Angerer, "would be like wasting gold."

He has used a basic method involving yoghurt and rennet to produce a cheese that is ready after about two weeks. Angerer isn't offering this for public consumption, although a few reporters in the US have been along to his restaurant to try it. The immediate response (among adults I spoke to, at least) varies from mild yuckiness to sheer revulsion. "There is a mental block," says Angerer. "I suppose any kind of human liquid takes on a weird, almost sexual, aspect. But we drink milk from animals and, to me, this isn't that different."

What does the milk taste like? "Like a cow eating different types of grass, it depends what the mother eats – though I'm not calling my wife a cow. She is vegetarian and eats a lot of leafy vegetables, so it has a slight spice that comes through. It's also sweeter than cow's milk."

Angerer says that, "as a chef, I am always trying to create different dishes and this was just an experiment with taste and texture, to see if it could be done". The version pictured is encrusted with pumpkin seeds and served with beets – just in case you want to try it at home.

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