Using Wild Candy Cap Mushrooms in Desserts
Many people find the idea of mushrooms in a dessert quite off-putting. However, candy cap mushrooms have slowly been changing this perception. These trending mushrooms have an incredibly sweet smell and flavor with an uncanny likeness to maple syrup.
Now, there is a lot you can do with the sweet and delicious flavor of maple syrup. That’s why the extract of candy cap mushrooms is commonly used for dessert foods such as cookies and ice cream. If you are in California, you can go out and find your own candy cap mushrooms to begin making your own desserts.
Candy cap mushrooms like to grow beneath trees amidst rotting wood and moss. Be very careful if you are looking to forage for these on your own because they can be mistaken for similar looking mushrooms that are toxic. Candy cap mushrooms are quite small and often have a distinct burnt orange color.
Mushrooms have long been used in all types of savory food dishes. However, candy caps open the door for mushrooms to be used in a completely different class of food: desserts. When dried, their sweet scent is far more potent. They can then be rehydrated and the sweet extract can be used to make all sorts of dishes.
Candy Cap Ice Cream Recipe:
Ingredients
1 tablespoon dried Candy Cap mushroom powder
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon maple syrup
In a medium sized pan, heat up the milk, sugar, salt, and 1 cup of cream until the sugar dissolves. Add the mushroom powder and let it steep with a cover on for 1-2 hours.
Warm the concoction back up and pour the other cup of cream into a large bowl. Put a fine mesh strainer on the bowl and place it in a shallow ice bath.
Use a different bowl to slowly whisk the egg yolks. Whilst whisking, pour around half of the warm mushroom-infused milk into the egg yolks. Next, add this mixture of infused mushroom milk and egg yolks back into the warm pot.
As the mixture sits over medium heat, stir gently with a wooden spoon. Make sure to scrape the bottom as you stir to allow the mixture to thicken. Turn the heat off once it is thick enough to coat the wooden spoon.
Pour through the strainer into the heavy cream. Place the bowl in the ice bath. Add the maple syrup and vanilla extract and stir occasionally as the mixture cools.
After it is cooled in the ice bath, chill in the refrigerator.
While many may be cautious about mushroom-based desserts at first, trying this delicious mushroom infused ice cream will put any doubts to rest.