Ice Cream Binge - Part II

Second Batch: Saffron

This ice cream has some important history. I ate Persian ice cream for the first time with Sara and Agha-ye-Doktor-e-Sani four years ago at Maykadeh in SF. Needless to say, it left a strong impression. Sara and I tried to make it in Templeton a few months later, but we didn't have the thickening agent sahlab, a powder made from dried orchid roots. The ice cream didn't really turn out, so last year at the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, I picked up some saffron and sahlab intending to make bastani the way (I think) it should be. And here it is... light saffron color and fragrance with pesteh and bits of frozen creme fraiche and the faintly marshmallowey taste of sahlab.