Pearly Banana ice cream (the tapioca way)
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Tapioca starch adds stability and consistency to this delicious Banana ice cream made in the Sicilian gelato tradition - just be clear about what type of tapioca (flour or pearls) you'll be using. This recipe goes for the pearls, which will translate to an ice cream pleasantly rich in tiny bumpy and pleasantly chewy tapioca "balls" ;-)
Ingredients
  • 300 ml (1¼ cup) cream
  • 200 ml (close to 0,9 cup) milk
  • 3 large preferably over-ripe bananas
  • 5-6 tablespoons of tapioca pearls (or tapioca flour, if you prefer smooth-only ice cream;-)
  • 125 ml (about ½ cup) sugar
  • about ½-1 teaspoon genuine vanilla extract
  • optional: about 1 tablespoon inverted sugar such as corn syrup or its likes
  • optional: about ¼-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
  1. In a sauce pan, mix the milk, the cream, the sugar(s) and add the vanilla (and cinnamon, if using) and the sliced pieces of the bananas. Bring to a simmering almost-boil, then take off from the heat and let cool down.
  2. Once cooled down, cover and put aside in the refrigerator to infuse for, preferably, at least 24 hours.
  3. Once the infusion is over, sieve off the banana pieces from the dairy: gently use a spatula or similar to extract as much of any remaining liquid from the banana pieces. Discard what is left of the banana pieces and prepare the final base.
  4. Mix the tapioca pearls with a little cold water and set aside to soak for about 30 minutes.
  5. While stirring frequently, bring the ice cream base to a simmering boil (or at least up to about 85 degrees Celsius/185 ยบ F).
  6. Add the tapioca, whisk and take the base off the heat.
  7. Let the base cool down and then chill overnight in your refrigerator.
  8. Churn the chilled base in your ice cream machine, or still-freeze using only your kitchen freezer (see separate post here on the blog on how to best do this!)
Notes
Do you wish to reduce the sugar? Then replace half of it with xylitol (birch sugar), which has excellent ice cream properties and is my favourite sugar-replacement. If using, there is no need for any additional inverted sugar by the way.
Recipe by ICE CREAM NATION at https://www.icecreamnation.org/2023/06/pearly-banana-ice-cream-the-tapioca-way/