Green Tea Frozen Yogurt

I fell in love with using whole crushed tea leaves in ice cream/frozen yogurt when I tasted mint chocolate chip at Montreal's incredible, all organic, homemade style ice cream shop, Meu Meu. (Incidentally, that's also where I had my life-changing first taste of lavender ice cream.) Their mint chocolate chip was creamy white--not that strange glowing green we've become accustomed too--and I was immediately smitten with its charming and delicious little flecks of crushed, dried mint. This recipe uses green or jasmine tea in just the same way. 

If you have an ice cream maker, you can make this frozen yogurt extra creamy, but I didn't use one. With a little advanced planning, it's not necessary. The agar helps in creating a nice texture without an ice cream maker (though this recipe has a slightly grainier texture than traditional frozen yogurt, I find that the texture suits the elegant flavours nicely, and gives the yogurt a natural and refreshing taste.) Agar is a very good thing to keep stalked in your pantry. It is a vegetarian substitute for gelatin, and works just as well. It is derived from a type of seaweed (though completely flavourless) and as a bonus, is packed with iron and calcium. You can find it at most health food stores and some Asian groceries. 

1/4 C water

1 T agar

2 t sugar (or other sweetener)

1 tea bag (green tea or, my personal favorite, jasmine/green tea mix)

1 ripe pear, peeled and sliced

1/2 C yogurt (low fat is fine, unless you want it extra creamy)

Boil water. Remove from heat (quickly, before it evaporates away) and stir in agar and sugar until dissolved, then break open the tea bag and add the tea leaves (or one teaspoon of loose tea). (The water should be hot, but not boiling when you add the green tea, or the tea will burn and taste bitter). Blend tea mixture with pear and yogurt until smooth in food processor or with an electric hand blender/mixer.

Pour into shallow pan and freeze for 2 hours. 

Remove from freezer, let sit for 10 - 20 mins, and blend again until smooth. Then pack it tightly in a smaller pan or container and refreeze for another 2 hours. 

Finally, remove from freezer, let sit for 10-20 mins, blend until smooth, and serve. If it still appears grainy or dry at the end of this blending, don't worry. Let it sit out for another 5 mins and then mix and smooth gently with a spoon until it's just right.

Serves 2.