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Picking Black Raspberries at The Bearded Frog and Sweet Corn and Black Raspberry Ice Cream

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Adam works with a farmer in the neighboring county named Lee. Adam’s business works with him and his corn and soybean operation.

And, in the last couple years, Lee decided to add another crop to the farm ground: Black Raspberries.

Last year, Lee planted somewhere between 300-400 black raspberry plants in six rows on his family farm. This year, the berries were ready for harvest so he opened up The Bearded Frog Berry Patch. He sells the black raspberries in pints or you can come and pick your own.

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Adam was so excited to hear about Lee’s side business venture and, over dinner a couple weeks ago, he told me that we had to check it out.

Berries were ready on June 24th at The Bearded Frog but, unfortunately, Adam’s schedule was crazy and he couldn’t get there. My schedule was a little more flexible so I was able to stop by the berry patch last week before work.

I arrived to the berry patch and was greeted by Lee and his young nephew. After grabbing a few pint containers and a wagon we headed out to the rows of black raspberries.

Lee pointed me in the direction of the best rows to pick from and then explained what to look for in order to pick the best berries. He said you wanted to find the darkest berries and when you did they would almost just pop off the plant.

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He told me that they had planted all the berry plants during the fall of 2012 but didn’t have berries until this year. The season for black raspberries is only a couple weeks long and is typically in late June.

The three of us began picking and getting to know one another.

Lee asked me about my job and we made the connection that an old schoolmate of his is now a chef that works with me at Purdue University.

I asked him about how the berry patch got its unique name “The Bearded Frog.”

He explained that it’s an ode to the past as his fourth generation farm is in a town that was once called “Beard” and a neighboring town was called “Frog.”

I loved the play on the past and told him I can already vision some fun frog logos for the berry patch. Lee laughed saying that logos are something they are currently working on.

Lee told me they started with just the eight rows of berries to see how it goes. They may expand as the years go on and they find more uses for the berries. Lee mentioned he was interested to learn what it would take to sell to a local winery and have them create a black raspberry wine or even create a Bearded Frog branded black raspberry jam.

I asked him, “Why black raspberries?”

Lee first explained that there are not many other black raspberry growers in Indiana. Then he added, “And they are the best.”

He told me that black raspberries make the best pies. The best jam. And they are great on their own.

My very pink hands after berry picking :)

My very pink hands after berry picking 🙂

“I have probably had ten pounds straight off the vine,” Lee said with a laugh.

I laughed too and looked to his nephew who had told me earlier he was going into fifth grade this fall and that he helps his Uncle Lee at the berry patch a couple days a week. I jokingly asked him, “So are you sick of black raspberries yet?”

Without hesitation he replied, “Nope!”

And then he added, “But I have almost made myself sick from eating so many!”

I could see how.

The berries were great. They tasted wonderful and were a great size and texture.

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After my early morning picking, I came home with eight pints. I froze four pints to make a pie later this summer. I also brought a couple pints to the lake for the 4th of July just to have around for a quick snack and made the great ice cream below for the Holiday as well.

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The Bearded Frog Berry Patch is closing it’s berry season in the next week. The final days the patch will be open are July 12, 2014 from 7:00 AM to noon and July 14, 2014 from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

The Berry Patch is located at:
2566 East County Road 600 North
Frankfort, IN 46041

Be sure to Like The Bearded Frog Berry Patch on Facebook to learn more about the story behind their name, the farm, directions to the berry patch and to stay up to date with next years berries!

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I made Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Black Raspberry Sauce using my fresh Black Raspberry’s. The recipe is from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, my favorite ice cream store in Columbus, Ohio. (Okay, it’s my favorite in the world. Just based out of Columbus.)

It was the quintessential taste of summer in the midwest.

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Sweet Corn and Black Raspberry Ice Cream
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Sweet Corn Ice Cream
  1. 1 ear sweet corn, husked
  2. 2 cups whole milk (tempted to save calories and use anything but whole milk? Don't. The texture gets messed up.)
  3. 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  4. 1 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened
  5. 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  6. 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
  7. 2/3 cup sugar
  8. 2 tablespoon light corn syrup
Black Raspberry Sauce
  1. 2 cups black raspberries
  2. 1 cup sugar
Black Raspberry Sauce
  1. - Combine black raspberries and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
  2. - Let cool slightly and force through a fine sieve to remove the seeds.
  3. - Refrigerate until cold before using.
Sweet Corn Ice Cream
  1. Prep-
  2. - Slice kernels from the corn cob, then "milk" the cob by running the back of a knife down the husk to extract the liquid. Reserve the kernels and liquid.
  3. - Mix 2 tablespoon of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry.
  4. - Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth.
  5. - Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
  6. Cook-
  7. - Combine remaining milk, cream, sugar, corn and juices, corn syrup in a sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil over medium high heat. Boil for 4 minutes.
  8. - Remove from the heat and force the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, leaving the corn "cases" behind.
  9. - Return the mixture to the saucepan and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.
  10. - Bring back to a boil and cook, stirring until slightly thickened about one minute. Remove from the heat.
  11. Chill-
  12. - Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth.
  13. - Pour complete mixture into a gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice and water bath. Let cool completely, about thirty minutes.
  14. Freeze-
  15. Pour ice cream base into frozen ice cream maker container and spin until thick and creamy. About twenty minutes.
  16. Pack ice cream into a storage container, alternating with layers of ice cream and black raspberry sauce. Top with a spoonful of sauce.
  17. Seal container and freeze in the freezer until firm. At least four hours.
Adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
Adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
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Ice Cream and Me… “Mint” to Be.

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Fun Fact #1: July is National Ice Cream Month.

Fun Fact #2: Indiana is the #2 producer of regular and low fat ice creams in the Nation.

Fun Fact #3: I love making (… and eating) ice cream.

Adam and I received an ice cream maker for our wedding from my cousin. It wasn’t on the registry and it was one of those small appliances I wondered if I would ever use. My mom made ice cream from time to time growing up but, I had never given it a try. I was entertaining taking it back, but something told me just to open the box and take a look at it.

Thank goodness I did.

I now joke that ice cream brought me to life.

… But, there is a little truth to this.

The summer after Adam and I got married there were changes with my role across the nation and because I was not in the position to move, I had to walk away from the company. And work all together.

Jobs in my field and skill-set were nonexistent within an hour drive from our country home, so I was, >gulp< unemployed.

A word I never thought I would be. I graduated on Deans List. I had worked one job, if not two, since I was fifteen. Every day was hard.

You may be thinking, “Are you kidding? No work? Sounds wonderful.”

And it was for… oh, about five days.

I could only apply for jobs so much without going crazy. I had no schedule. No need to get out of gym shorts. No need to turn off The Kardashian’s, even though I had already seen the episode four times. All of my friends were at least an hour away and, weird, at work. Like I should have been. I was pretty pathetic. I even remember one –bad– day wondering if I would ever work again.

Then you realize you have spent a whole day and have not said one word aloud. Then you snap.

And then, I opened the ice cream maker.

It wasn’t the kind with ice and a hand crank that I remembered from childhood. It was sleek and ran electronically. And there were recipes in the manual. A recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream; Adam’s all-time favorite. I had to make it. (Side note: Who was the genius who put chocolate and peanut butter together? I mean, seriously. Genius.)

I beamed to my mom on the phone about how easy and fun it was to make and how great it turned out. She must have beamed to her girlfriends about how wonderfully domesticated I was becoming (God knows she wasn’t talking about how great I was at my job…) because a couple weeks later I received a late wedding gift from one of her friends who lived in the neighborhood. It was the, then very brand new, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream at Home Cookbook and a check with “For lots and lots of heavy cream!” in the memo.

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Jeni’s Ice Cream originated in my hometown of Columbus. She is now very well known for her unique flavors and fresh ingredients, but when she was just starting out years ago she had one shop (She now has multiple and is expanding like crazy out of Ohio) near my uncle’s house.

He was a bachelor until he married a wonderful woman from England in 2008 and he would often take my little sister and me on “dates.” They were to neat places and are all so memorable. One time we wanted to try sushi, so he took us to his favorite sushi restaurant and ordered a BOAT of sushi for the three of us just so we could try a lot of different rolls. There were also dates to a trendy stone oven pizza place and even fancy steak houses. But one thing was always the same: the night ended with ice cream at Jeni’s.

Jeni’s is a far cry from the typical vanilla. She uses crazy spices like lavender and cayenne. Sounds nuts, I know. But, it’s wonderful! As far as I know, Jeni’s was the first to create the flavor “Salty Carmel.” It was at Jeni’s that I learned I loved bourbon, even though I was well below the drinking age, with her bourbon butter pecan. The warmness of the bourbon mixed with the creamy ice cream and salty nuts. Divine.

The cookbook is beautiful. Playful, rustic photos adorn the colorful pages. The recipes vary in difficulty. I will be honest; the ice creams can be difficult for novice cooks. I made the Salty Carmel ice cream when I got the book and was challenged. I felt like I had fifty things going on. My kitchen was MESS when it was all said and done. But, it was good, so I will still consider it a win.

The sorbets are much simpler. I made her Watermelon and Lemonade Sorbet last summer and the hardest thing about it was cutting the watermelon.

A few days ago, Jeni’s Twitter account began posting about the “Backyard Mint” flavor. Different tweets mentions how it “Has returned!” and that the ice cream in her stores is made with “fresh-picked organic peppermint from Jorgenson Farms.” (Jorgenson Farm’s is just outside Columbus.)

This got me thinking. I have fresh, organic peppermint in my backyard. And I was yet to use my ice cream maker this summer. Perhaps I should give it a try?

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Sure enough, it was in the cookbook so I made plans to get it going after work yesterday.

I will list my take away’s from this creation, but I am not going to list the recipe because:

1. I feel like I am friends with Jeni after eating at her store for nearly a decade and before she made it big. It feels wrong to do it without her permission.
2. I am new to the blogging world and I am not real-life friends with Jeni. I am not sure what copyright laws are out there.
And, 3. You should probably just go buy the book. You won’t regret it.

The process of making the ice cream was pretty easy. I loved tearing into my fresh mint leaves before adding them to the sugar cream mixture. They smelled so strong and vibrant.

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The mint needed to steep in the finished cream for at least four hours. I kept mine in the fridge for about six.

Before bed last night, I strained the mint leaves out, put the flavorful cream into the frozen ice cream bowl and let the machine spin for about fifteen minutes. Then the mixture looked like ice cream and was pulling from the sides of the bowl.

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I slopped the finished product into a container and let it freeze until after dinner tonight.

As Adam and I split the bowl, we both commented on how rich and creamy it was. We loved the light, freshness of the mint.

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I asked him what he thought a good mix in might be for next time. To get ideas going, I said, “Peppermint Patties.” Adam chimed in with “Oreos.” Then, after taking a bite and thinking for a while, it came to me. “Thin Mints.”

Adams face lit up.

Nailed it.