Yes. That's right. Maple syrup and bacon. Takes me back 20 years or so ago when I went to British Columbia and first experienced the salty, sweet taste on nice thick fluffy pancakes for breakfast. A gustatory delight if ever there was one............
I met up with Rachel Candy at Palette and Pasture near Frome again the other day and we talked - amongst other things - about how we'd go about making this slightly different gelato.

Here's what you need to make Rachel's traditional gelato base mix:
700ml of full fat milk
25ml of double cream
50g dextrose
25g granulated sugar
1tsp guar gum
And for that salty, sweet flavour:
100ml of maple syrup
100ml of water
100g granulated sugar
8 unsmoked bacon rashers
And this is what you do:
Heat the milk in a saucepan to 45 degrees. Add the sugar, guar gum and double cream. Heat to 65 degrees or until the sugar has dissolved
Leave to cool and then gently stir in the maple syrup
Refrigerate overnight
Take out of the fridge and stir the mixture again
Add the water and the remaining sugar to a separate pan and boil to make a syrup
Cut the bacon into 1cm x 1cm squares and add to the syrup
Lightly boil until the bacon is cooked and caramelised and then allow to cool
Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and set it to work
If you don't have one then pour the mixture into a freezer proof container and put it into the freezer. Remove it every 15 minutes and stir until it starts to set
Pour the gelato mixture into another freezer proof container. Then add the caramelised bacon and swirl it into the gelato
Return it to the freezer to allow it to freeze completely
And then to serve.............
Take the gelato from the freezer and let it warm slightly in the fridge for about 15 minutes. I'll confess at this point. I rarely do that. I'm too eager to taste it. And last time I added too much cream.
Rachel told me off when we spoke - as you might have heard if you tuned in to our chat - so this time I'm following her to recipe and method. To the T.......
And I've done it. And it tastes as good as you might imagine. Honestly - as Rachel says on the radio show that you can listen to here the caramelised bacon tastes nothing like you might imagine. It's as far from a BLT taste than you could possibly imagine!
Give it a go and let us know how you get on. And whether you like it. And I'll let you know what the Truglets think of it!
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