I remember the first time I made passionfruit gelato, I came back to my apartment from a two week break, and I just recalled that I had purchased passionfruits, left them in the fridge, and I didn’t touch them for almost a month. Freaking out, I realized that I needed to preserve them somehow, so I made them into a jam. It was still the summer when I was living in that apartment in Boston, so it was blazing hot. I was hungry and needed to cool down, but all I had in my fridge was an unopened carton of heavy cream, half a carton of eggs, and in my pantry, sugar, vanilla extract, and milk powder.
Luckily, I experimented a lot with sorbets and gelato throughout the summer, and I decided to make a vanilla one, just to keep it simple, given that my fridge and pantry were 90% empty. And it was then that I remembered I made the passionfruit jam. So after I blended the vanilla gelato for the second time, I folded in the jam into the softened ice cream base, and set it. It was perfection. Passionfruit gelato is probably the king of all of my frozen dessert components. I just love how there is a tang from the passionfruit against the creamy-sweet vanilla gelato, and then the crunch of the passionfruit seed in the midst, it’s delicious.
If you find an incredibly similar recipe to the one listed, I am not a recipe-thief. That recipe is probably mine, assuming it’s the one that uses milk powder and water instead of soy milk. In this recipe, I’m using the soy milk because it gives another level of sweetness to the gelato that compliments the vanilla that much more and gives the ice cream a deeper flavor profile overall. Additionally, I included amemizu, a Japanese version of corn syrup made from rice, as it is an inverted sugar that stabilizes the gelato so that it won’t melt as quickly.
Passionfruit Gelato; makes about a pint of gelato
Vanilla Gelato Base:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup soy milk
3 egg yolks
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon amemizu or light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
Heat heavy cream and soy milk over a stove at medium heat until the mixture releases steam — be careful not to over boil! In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks, salt, amemizu, and granulated sugar until it forms into a thick trail. Gently pour half of the steaming hot milk into the egg yolks and continue whisking. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the warm pot of milk and cream and continue whisking over high heat until the mixture is just thick enough to coat a spoon. At this point, whisk in the vanilla extract and take pot off heat, and transfer the base to a clean pan. Cool to room temperature and freeze overnight.
Once the ice cream base is frozen solid, roughly after 4-6 hours of freezing, transfer to a food processor and blitz until smooth and creamy. At this point, transfer the base back to the freezing pan and fold in the passionfruit jam. Store in the freezer until set, roughly 1 more hour of freezing.
Passionfruit Jam:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 passionfruits
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
a pinch of salt
Stir together ingredients. Reduce in a pot for 5-10 minute over medium heat, or until the mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon. Set inside refrigerator and chill completely. Once cooled, fold the passionfruit jam into the set ice cream base.
Freddy's Harajuku 
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