Nothing better in this heat than preparing a simple nana cream blue cornflower ice cream.
What are nana creams? Nana comes from banana; they are “fake ice creams” without cream, made with frozen banana. A simple and healthy ice cream to make at home, in a thousand variations.
In this case, to the banana I added canned coconut milk, a teaspoon of blue spirulina (I talk about it at the end of the article) and decorated with cornflower petals.
Today, in fact, with the friends of the column #herbsandflowersintheplate we are talking precisely about the cornflower, that wonderful little blue flower.
The scientific name of the cornflower is Cyanus segetum; cyano comes from Greek and means blue, while segetum comes from Latin and means sown wheat field. Indeed, cornflowers are almost always found in wheat fields together with poppies. Thanks for the beautiful photo provided by Tiziana Colombo.
The cornflower is mainly used as an eye decongestant. In fact, the principle contained in the cornflower reduces swelling and calms inflammation around the eye area.
You can prepare a cornflower infusion, let it cool and then use compresses on the eyes.
In the kitchen it is more often used as a garnish for dishes, thanks to its wonderful color.
You can see other recipes for ice creams and nana creams here:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 1 Day
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Other
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer
Ingredients for Nana cream blue cornflower ice cream
- 1 banana
- 1/3 cup canned coconut milk (from a can)
- 1 teaspoon blue spirulina
- 1 teaspoon cornflower petals
Tools
- 1 Ice cream scoop
Steps for Nana cream blue cornflower ice cream
First of all, the day before, slice the banana into rounds, sprinkle with lemon juice, place in a container and put in the freezer.
Place a can of coconut milk in the refrigerator.
The next day, take the banana out of the freezer and blend well in a blender. Add only the fatty part of the very cold coconut milk and a teaspoon of blue spirulina.
Run the blender for a minute, stopping and scraping to incorporate everything.
Transfer to a container and put in the freezer for a couple of hours to firm up.
Use an ice cream scoop to form balls and place them in a bowl. Sprinkle with cornflower petals.
You can see the other recipes dedicated to the column Herbs and Flowers on the Plate, which this month talks about cornflower:
Elisa: Cornflower and pea risotto
Miria: Salmon and mango salad with cornflower
Tiziana: Cornflower sorbet
Tips from Timo e Lenticchie
Keep the ice cream in the freezer and churn it at the last moment; try many other variations with hazelnuts, chocolate, caramel.
In this recipe I used blue spirulina, which contains phycocyanin with important antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Only 5 grams (about 1 teaspoon) in 300 g of product (about 10.6 oz / roughly 1 1/4 cups) are enough to obtain a beautiful natural blue color. I use Spirulina Becagli which is certified Italian.
