Strawberry Jam Ice Cream - 16fl oz

There's nothing better with a slice of pie than a real scoop of homemade strawberry jam ice cream, and this one started as a way to use up strawberries the right way instead of the fast way.

I dice the strawberries and simmer them low with a touch of sugar for several hours -- long enough to concentrate the fruit instead of just sweetening it. Then I stir in a bit of balsamic vinegar and let the whole batch age overnight in the fridge. The acidity doesn't read as vinegar in the finished ice cream; it cuts the sweetness and pulls the strawberry flavor forward, so instead of a light, refreshing strawberry scoop you get something dense and jammy -- the kind of flavor you'd expect from a spoonful of good strawberry preserves, not a pint off a grocery shelf.

Scoop it alongside a warm slice of pie, layer it into a sundae, or eat it on its own straight out of the carton -- I won't judge you, I do it too. Note this is a traditional dairy-and-sugar ice cream, so it's not keto, paleo, or carnivore-friendly, but it's a real treat for anyone who wants an honest, from-scratch dessert.

This is a small-batch, made and packed by hand in White Bear Lake, Minnesota -- no factory line, no industrial flavoring, just me and a pot of strawberries. Keep it frozen until you're ready to serve, and let it sit out for a few minutes to soften before scooping.

Ingredients: Homemade Ice Cream Base, Strawberries, Sugar, and Balsamic Vinegar.

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Common Questions

How does this compare nutritionally and ingredient-wise to a typical grocery store strawberry ice cream?
Most mass-produced strawberry ice cream carries a stabilizer and emulsifier system — usually guar gum, carrageenan, mono- and diglycerides, and often corn syrup solids — to keep the product scoopable after months in a freezer case and to fluff up the volume with air (overrun). This ice cream has four ingredients: homemade ice cream base, strawberries, sugar, and balsamic vinegar. There's no stabilizer added, no fruit puree concentrate standing in for real strawberries, and no flavoring extract doing the work that slow-cooked fruit normally does. The tradeoff is a shorter shelf life and a denser, less airy texture than what you'd get off a supermarket shelf.'

Why is there balsamic vinegar in a strawberry ice cream, and what does it actually do?
The vinegar's acetic acid works the same way it does on tomatoes or stone fruit in savory cooking — it suppresses your perception of sweetness on the palate, which lets the strawberry flavor register as fruit instead of just sugar. It's added after the strawberries have been simmered down for several hours to concentrate their natural pectin and sugars, then the whole batch rests overnight in the fridge so the acid integrates fully into the base rather than sitting on top as a sharp note. Done right, you can't taste vinegar at all — you taste riper, more intense strawberry. This is the same principle behind adding a splash of vinegar to jam or macerated fruit, just applied to a churned ice cream base instead of a spread.

Is this ice cream keto, paleo, or carnivore friendly?
No, not in the strict sense of any of those diets. It contains added cane sugar and a large proportion of cooked-down fruit, both of which put it well outside keto's low-carb threshold and outside carnivore's animal-only framework entirely. It's closer to paleo territory in that the ingredient list is short and free of gums, stabilizers, or artificial flavoring, but paleo purists who avoid dairy and refined sugar altogether will still rule it out. This is a dessert built around real strawberries and real sugar, not a fitness-formulated product, so if you're tracking macros closely, treat it as a treat rather than a diet-compliant food.

What can I do with this besides eat it plain?
It's built to sit next to a warm slice of pie, where the jammy strawberry flavor and cold temperature contrast against a buttery crust — that's actually the reason it exists. It also works swirled into a milkshake base, layered into a sundae with whipped cream and toasted nuts, or spooned over pound cake or shortcake in place of a traditional strawberry compote. Because it's dense and not overly icy, it holds up well as a filling between cake layers if you let it soften slightly first. If you want to use it the way you'd use a jar of strawberry preserves — on toast, biscuits, or stirred into oatmeal — let it melt most of the way and use it as a sauce rather than a frozen scoop.

What does 'made by hand' actually mean here, and are there any certifications behind it?
It means the ice cream base, the strawberry cook-down, and the mixing happen in a single kitchen in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, in small batches rather than on a continuous production line. There's no third-party organic, non-GMO, or gluten-free certification attached to this product — those claims aren't made because they haven't been verified through a certifying body, so don't expect to see a certification seal on the label. What you can verify yourself is the ingredient list: four items, all of them recognizable foods, with nothing hidden behind a 'natural flavor' line.

This brand is known for its pie crust — does that carry over to the ice cream at all?
The crust is Ben Neumann's calling card on the pies — 100% butter, never shortening — but this ice cream doesn't contain crust or butter pastry itself; it's a separate churned dairy base built around slow-cooked strawberries. The connection is more about process than ingredients: the same from-scratch approach that goes into hand-laminating a butter crust also goes into simmering strawberries for hours instead of using a shortcut puree. If you're ordering both, the ice cream is designed specifically to be eaten alongside a slice of that pie rather than as a standalone flavor experiment.

How should I store and serve this once I have it?
Keep it in the freezer at a consistent temperature until you're ready to eat it — because there are no stabilizers to prevent ice crystal formation, repeated thawing and refreezing will degrade the texture faster than it would with a commercial pint. Pull it out and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes before scooping, since the dense, low-air base firms up harder than typical grocery store ice cream. Once opened, plan to finish it within a couple of weeks for the best texture, as the fruit content makes it more prone to iciness over time than a purely dairy-based flavor.