We harvest the bitter fruit

[kerravonsen]

Yes, another ice-cream flavour experiment, because chocolate and coffee and cinnamon and ginger all the time gets boring.

Experiment #29: Orange-Maple Optifast ice cream
Recipe:
* 3 pkts vanilla Optifast milkshake
* 600ml cold water
* 1 t orange essence
* 3 T sugarless maple-flavoured syrup
* 1 t maple essence
* 3/4 t orange oil
* 5 T Splenda granular (I think)
Result: Creamy, as usual. Taste was... interesting. A mild orange-maple flavour that makes me think of orange-flavoured cake mix, with a bitter undertone from the orange oil (there's a reason why I added so much Splenda!) and also a sort of aromatic feel from the orange oil too, it sort of lingers in the mouth.
When I was mixing up the mix, I noticed that the things that contributed the most flavour were the maple essence (rather than the maple-flavoured syrup) and the orange oil (rather than the orange essence).
Also, there was a point in the ice-cream making when the paddle got a little stuck, and I needed to turn off the motor and un-stick it, but after that it was fine.
Lessons: (a) orange oil does need a fair bit of sweetness to compensate for its bitterness (b) check on the ice cream machine more frequently, to check if the paddle is stuck

Not sure if I will try this one again.

Comments

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

If you are allowed fruit, couldn't you use orange juice or juice and pulp rather than the orange oil? You'd have to reduce the water, but it ought to be just a straight substitution. I'd think it would be less bitter.

[kerravonsen]

But I'm only allowed a small quota of fruit, so I'd rather not use it up flavouring Optifast ice cream, when I'd rather use it either making an Optifast smoothie, or actually having the piece of fruit for morning tea etc.

[vilakins]

A quick question since you've tried all the Optifast flavours. I love the coffee one and the strawberry one's nice too, but you and I both agreed that the vanilla one had an odd after-taste.

Now the coffee and strawberry come in packs of 8 here, but vanilla and chocolate come in packs of 21 which makes them a lot cheaper per drink. Tell me, did you like the chocolate? I'm unwilling to buy a pack in the hope I'll like it, and you can't get singles.

I had my regular blood tests last week and everything's normal for the first time. I think it's because I'm replacing one or two meals a day with Optifast which is giving me improved nutrition.

[kerravonsen]

I didn't bother trying the chocolate, because it was sweetened with Saccharine just as the vanilla was, and I think that it is the Saccharine which gives it the aftertaste. The coffee and the strawberry flavours use a different sweetener. I think you'd be better off buying the vanilla and adding your own cocoa to cover the taste. Or making a smoothie with your own fruit.

[vilakins]

Good ideas, thanks! It's a pity I can't try a chocolate just to see if the flavour masks the taste better.