Ube (Purple Yam) Ice Cream

In the Philippines, ice cream is better known as sorbetes or “dirty ice cream,” largely because it’s peddled by street vendors and the conditions of their wooden carts can be deemed unsanitary (although, to be fair, I think calling it “dirty” was how my older relatives attempted to dissuade me from buying it). I remember patiently waiting for the tinkling of the cart’s bell to echo down my street on a daily basis. 

The sorbetero, or ice cream man, usually carries a rotation of three flavors, such as cheese, chocolate, strawberry, avocado, or ube (purple yam), which are housed in individual metal canisters, surrounded by crushed ice, sprinkled with salt, and covered with rice husks to help keep the sorbetes frozen in the sweltering heat. The sorbetero scoops the ice cream into cups, cones, or bread buns like pandesal or monay (a dense bread).

Vibrantly purple ube—which features a smooth, creamy texture and sweet, earthy flavor with subtle notes of vanilla—is one of the country’s well-loved flavors of ice cream. While it can be enjoyed as a standalone flavor, it is equally popular in other combinations, like ube macapuno (ube plus coconut) and ube and cheese (a match-made in heaven due to its balance of savory and sweet flavors).

For my version of ube ice cream, I set out to develop a recipe that honors the flavors of home by using a combination of coconut cream and milk, which complements the ube’s earthy sweetness and coincidentally results in a vegan ice cream. During my testing, I discovered that incorporating homemade ube halaya, or purple yam jam, produced a less icy ice cream and tasted superior to a version using store-bought halaya, a product that can contain artificial coloring and preservatives (if you do choose to use store-bought halaya, look for ones with ube and sugar as the primary ingredients). The addition of corn syrup and a small amount of vodka yields a soft, scoopable ice cream with a plush texture that’s akin to a full-dairy version. Once churned and frozen, I highly recommend enjoying ube ice cream on its own, scooped into pandesal, or as a topping for halo-halo.