Isabella Grape & Kefir Ice Cream

The reason we planted Isabella grapes in our allotment is this ice cream — and the other recipes in The Artful Baker by Cenk Sönmezsoy.

Isabella is a treasured grape variety in Turkey, but it’s not very common to find in England. Around the same time we got our allotment, I was reading several recipes in Cenk’s book that featured Isabella grapes. When it came time to plant a grapevine, I searched for this variety and, luckily, found one quite easily.

It took several years for the vine to settle. I cut off all the grapes in the first three years to let the plant root down properly. Two years ago we finally had our first harvest — about 2 kg. Last year we lost everything to the birds, so this year I covered the vine with netting, and it worked. We harvested almost 7 kg of Isabella grapes.

I always had this ice cream in mind, but a couple of weeks ago I saw Tim Spector posting about kefir ice cream and explaining its benefits for gut health. That gave me the final push to make it. The original recipe cooks almost all of the kefir, but I decided to adapt it — preparing the grape base as written, then adding extra live kefir before churning. The result was beautifully tangy, creamy, and full of flavour.

I always had this ice cream in mind, but a couple of weeks ago I saw Tim Spector posting about kefir ice cream and explaining its benefits for gut health. That gave me the final push to make it. The original recipe cooks almost all of the kefir, but I decided to adapt it — preparing the grape base as written, then adding extra live kefir before churning. The result was beautifully tangy, creamy, and full of flavour.

Isabella Grape & Kefir Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients

1 kg Isabella (or Concord) grapes, destemmed, 175 g sugar,

1 tablespoon cornstarch,

600 g plain milk kefir (250 g cooked in the base + 350 g added later).

Method

1. Puree the grapes with the sugar in a food processor until smooth.

2. Strain through a fine sieve to remove skins and seeds — you should have about 720 g of grape purée.

3. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with a little of the kefir until smooth. Stir this into the grape purée along with 250 g kefir.

4. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture just thickens (about 6–8 minutes). Remove from the heat and let cool completely.

5. Stir in the remaining 350 g kefir until smooth.

6. Chill the base for at least 4 hours or overnight.

7. Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions, then freeze until firm.

To serve: Let soften 10–15 minutes at room temperature before scooping.