Made in Ohio Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams was first brought to my attention by Molly O'Neill.

Jeni Britton Bauer, the creative force behind Jeni's, has collected 100 addictive treats and shares the recipes in Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Artisan Books, Summer 2011)

Here's a summer teaser.

Sweet Corn & Black Raspberry Ice Cream

A sublime summer match—initial hits of milky sweet corn give way to the floral nose of sweet black raspberry.

Ohio sweet corn is milky-tasting and shockingly sweet. I like to eat it raw straight off the truck. We add sea salt and fresh cream and milk to make a delightful peak-harvest ice cream, then swirl it with black raspberry sauce. This is the taste of summertime in Ohio, especially in Columbus, where this flavor has had a loyal following since I first made it over ten years ago.

Sweet corn ice cream is delicious on its own. My initial reason for adding black raspberries was visual, but black raspberries offer a perfect sweet-tart perfume to the flavor (complementary colors often make complementary flavors). If you can’t find good black raspberries for the sauce (some years they are all seeds—don’t bother), use half blackberries and half red raspberries, so the color is still a deep purple to complement the yellow corn.  

Makes a generous 1 quart

1 ear sweet corn, husked

2 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Black Raspberry Sauce (see below)

Pairs well with: Blue corn cakes with lots of powdered sugar and Queen City Cayenne Ice Cream. Bumbleberry crumble. Honey Butterscotch Sauce.

PREP

Slice the kernels from the corn cob, then “milk” the cob by scraping it with the back of your knife to extract the liquid; reserve the kernels and liquid.

Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry.

Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth.

Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

COOK

Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, corn and juices, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and force the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, leaving the corn “cases” behind. Return the mixture to the saucepan and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

– MORE –

CHILL

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

FREEZE

Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy.

Pack the ice cream into a storage container, alternating it with layers of the black raspberry sauce and ending with a spoonful of sauce; do not mix. Press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Black Raspberry Sauce

This sauce will not freeze fully when it’s frozen, so it’s perfect to swirl through any ice cream.

Makes about 1 1/4 cups

2 cups black raspberries

1 cup sugar

Combine the berries and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue boiling, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 220°F (5 to 8 minutes). Let cool slightly, then force through a sieve to remove the seeds. (Or leave a few seeds in there just to prove you made it.) Refrigerate until cold before using.

(Excerpted from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer (Artisan Books). Copyright 2011. Photograph by Stacy Newgent)