Vanilla Ice Cream Tastes Twice As Good When Paired With This Spice

Vanilla ice cream gets a bad rep for being boring, but when treated correctly, it becomes luxuriant, whether that means enhancing its flavor with real vanilla bean paste or elevating your vanilla ice cream with delicious toppings. Of course, with the right topping choice, you get the best of both worlds. Ginger, for instance, is an excellent flavor to pair with vanilla, not only because both flavors are derived from tropical plants, but because they're extremely compatible opposites.

While ginger is spicy and fiery, vanilla is floral and cool, with both possessing sweet, aromatic notes that bridge the gap between the contrast. They elevate each other without clashing, especially inside ice cream. The dessert's cold temperature and dairy-forward composition curb excess spiciness from the ginger while simultaneously showcasing both flavors. You can enjoy this combination in homemade vanilla ice cream by adding freshly chopped or juiced ginger to your favorite recipe, or you can go the simpler route by adding ginger to your favorite brand of store-bought vanilla.

Folding dried, ground ginger or ginger juice into softened vanilla ice cream are both easy options, though for best results, you'll want to let the flavors infuse in the freezer for a day or two after you add the ginger to the ice cream. For a more immediate dessert, you can use chewy candied ginger instead and sprinkle your bowl with it. You could also use up your fresh ginger by making a spicy jam and spoon it over a couple of vanilla scoops. Just be sure to add a little at a time to keep the flavors balanced.

Which method you use to add ginger to your ice cream depends on your end goal. If you want both flavors equally combined in each scoop, ice cream infused with fresh or ground ginger is your best bet. Homemade ice cream allows you to simmer the ginger in the creme anglaise mixture before freezing, producing a smooth, silky texture. Meanwhile, folding minced or ground ginger into a large quantity of ice cream may produce a slightly sandy texture, or pockets of more intense ginger flavor, respectively. If you'd rather just add gingery toppings to your ice cream, you won't need to sacrifice a full batch of ice cream to the effort. This method also offers more control over how strong the flavor is.

No matter which option you choose, every method is elevated even further by the addition of other sophisticated flavor pairings. For instance, ginger is a great way to level up cranberry sauce, so cranberry jelly or dried cranberries are a deliciously tangy addition to this pairing. Amarena cherries are also a great choice, as they've got a strong, fruity almond flavor that melds beautifully with both ginger and vanilla.

Of course, if you're a tried-and-true chocolate fan, chocolate chips or syrup are almost always incredible with ice cream. In this case, dark or white chocolate are better choices than milk, as milk chocolate isn't as sweet as white or earthy as dark, which may cause the other two flavors to be overshadowed and become muddled.