To prepare homemade lemon ice cream without an ice cream maker, let’s start with the containers we will need.

First, get a large enough steel bowl or pot – which we will put in the freezer at least an hour before starting to prepare the ice cream base – and a glass container with a lid, also to put in the freezer.

The frozen bowl (or pot) will be used to lower the temperature of the ice cream base after taking it off the stove.

Wash 6 lemons thoroughly, brush the peel and peel them, being careful to extract only the outer yellow part (the amount of zest and juice we get will depend on the size of the lemons themselves; in my case, I used six medium-sized lemons, like the whole one you can see in the cover photo).

Put the peels in a saucepan, pour in the milk, sugar, and salt, stir and bring to the smallest burner over low heat.

Stir often so that the sugar and salt dissolve perfectly. The milk should come almost to a boil, but it must not boil; I recommend keeping the flame low because this way it will be easier to control the milk.

This operation will be easier with a food thermometer; in fact, as soon as the milk reaches a temperature of 185°F, we must turn off the heat, immediately remove the saucepan from the stove and transfer the base into the cold freezer bowl to quickly lower the temperature.

Now let the base continue to cool at room temperature in a sheltered place without covering it to avoid condensation. We can keep it in the off oven until it is completely cool.

When the base is well chilled, add the cold liquid cream and the freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Mix well, strain the mixture from the peels, and pour the ice cream into the cold glass freezer container, cover, and transfer it immediately into the freezer.

Take the container out after about 2 hours, stir both the liquid part and the part that has started to freeze along the container walls, and put it back in the freezer.

After about two hours, stir again and then back in the freezer for about 10-12 hours, without stirring it again.

Take the lemon ice cream out about 10-15 minutes before portioning and serving it (depending on whether you like it more or less creamy).

Bon appetit

The extra idea. Lemon ice cream can also be made with lactose-free milk and cream; in this case, the amount of sugar goes down to about 14 oz, as lactose-free products are already sweet.

If you own an ice cream maker, when the base is cold enough, add the cream, lemon juice, mix, remove the peels and transfer to the ice cream maker. Proceed with the ice cream churning as you are already used to doing according to the model you own.