Homemade Teaberry Ice Cream

A woodsy, refreshing ice cream anyone who loves the flavor of mint will enjoy. Teaberry or wintergreen ice cream is a seasonal delicacy known in Pennsylvania. Originally made with wild wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), most teaberry ice cream recipes are now made with food coloring and industrial extract. However, it's easy to make an all-natural version at home, and after your first bite you'll understand why it has a cult following.

What is Teaberry Ice Cream?

Teaberry ice cream is simply ice cream flavored with wild wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) which is also known as checkerberry and boxberry. The berry in teaberry refers to the small red fruit the plant produces in mid-autumn that were probably used to color and flavor the original version.

Above: ripe fruit of Eastern teaberry / wild wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens). The plant contains a compound similar to aspirin and should be eaten in small amounts.

Historically, the plant was also used to flavor Clarks teaberry chewing gum as well as other candies and sweets.

The ice cream is a localized, seasonal treat in Pennsylvania, and is still made by the Hershey company (unrelated to the chocolate maker). To my knowledge you can't buy teaberry ice cream outside of Pennsylvania. Thankfully, Gaultheria procumbens is widespread and common across the Eastern United states and easy to identify from its minty aroma.

Unfortunately, similar to black walnut ice cream, modern teaberry ice cream is dyed hot pink with food coloring and flavored commercial wintergreen extract. The resulting substance is a Pepto-Bismol pink ice cream with an aroma that's been compared to Bengay foot cream. As an interesting aside, wintergreen oil is actually an ingredient in Bengay and Icy Hot.

If that sounds odd don't worry, the all-natural version is clean, refreshing, and just tastes like wintergreen mints.

How to Make Teaberry Ice Cream

First, you'll need fresh wintergreen leaves or berries. The berries appear in autumn but the leaves can be harvested year-round. The tiny pink berries are nice to add if you can find them, but the leaves have a remarkably potent flavor on their own.

Like other ice creams, you make a custard base by combining eggs, sugar, milk and cream. Beat the mixture with a whisk briefly to break up the yolks, then heat the pot, stirring with a wooden spoon, until it reaches about 175F-180F. I've also had great success making ice cream custard in a sous vide water bath lately.

After the custard is cooked you'll add a few tablespoons of finely minced wintergreen leaves along with homemade wintergreen extract and a splash of vanilla. The minced leaves are the secret to great flavor and infuse effortlessly into the cream.

The ice cream is fine made as-is, but if you want to tint the color pink like the commercial version you can add some raspberry puree or cooked, crushed raspberries which adds a nice touch. Black cap raspberries and blackberries will work too.

After cooking the ice cream base is refrigerated overnight, then strained through a fine mesh sieve and put into an ice cream maker.

The ice cream is best the day it's made, but it will keep for a week. Serve it in frozen cups.

Chefs Tips

• If you have a sous vide cooker it's a great, worry-free way to cook the custard. Cook at 180 F for 30 minutes.
• The technique of infusing the custard with wintergreen leaves can be used with other fruit ice cream, especially berry and cherry ice creams.
• Grated chocolate makes a nice variation on mint chocolate chip.
• If you infuse the custard for 48 hours the flavor will be even stronger.
• Folding in chilled, stewed fruit compote at the end adds a nice marbled look and texture.
• Gild the lily by spooning a warm strawberry compote over the top.
• I like to add a dash of my homemade vanilla extract too.

Related Posts

• Black Raspberry Ice Cream
• Hickory Smoked Ice Cream
• Black Truffle Ice Cream

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5 from 1 vote

Homemade Wintergreen or Teaberry Ice Cream

A refreshing homemade ice cream inspired by the Pennsylvania tradition, flavored with teaberry leaves (wild wintergreen). It tastes like wintergreen mints. Makes about 4 cups.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Churning time45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: teaberry ice cream recipe

Servings: 10 servings

Calories: 244kcal

Author: Alan Bergo

Cost: 10

Equipment

• 1 Ice cream maker preferably with a compressor
• 1 2 quart sauce pot
• 1 Very fine mesh strainer
• 1 Whisk
• 1 wooden spoon
• 1 chefs knife

Ingredients

• 2 cups cream
• 1 cup milk
• 5 large egg yolks
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons wintergreen extract see note
• 15 grams 3 Tablespoons minced fresh wintergreen leaves and berries generous tablespoons
• 6 oz fresh raspberries or 3 oz blackberries for color, optional

Instructions

• In a small 2 qt or similar-sized saucepan, beat the egg yolks, cream, milk and sugar with a whisk until well blended. Put the whisk away and switch to a wooden spoon now to prevent incorporating air into the custard.
• If you want to color the ice cream with berries you can mash them with the whisk in the beginning of the cooking process, or heat them until they release their juice, mash them with a fork and add them after the custard’s thickened. You can also puree them with a hand blender into the finished custard.
• Heat, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 175F-180F.
• Cool the custard, add the wintergreen leaves, and extract, cover and refrigerate overnight and up to 3 days for the best texture.
• Strain the custard through a fine strainer to remove bits of berries and wintergreen leaves. Taste a spoonful-it should have a strong, pleasant taste of wintergreen.
• Spin the ice cream until it increases in volume and has the texture of sour cream. This takes about 45 minutes in my ice cream maker. For the best texture, serve the ice cream immediately in bowls you’ve chilled in the freezer, or transfer the ice cream to a container and freeze until needed.
• The ice cream will never be quite as good as the day it’s churned, but it can keep for a few weeks in the freezer.

Video

Notes

• The ice cream can be made with or without the extract. 
• To make wintergreen extract, pack a jar full of fresh leaves, cover with brandy, and infuse for at least 3 days. 
• Fresh wintergreen leaves or berries can be used. 
• You can infuse the ice cream base in the refrigerator for 3 days or more without the aroma becoming too strong. 

Nutrition

Serving: 4oz | Calories: 244kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 154mg | Sodium: 85mg | Potassium: 92mg | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 869IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 0.3mg