Pistachio Ice Cream

Pistachio ice cream can be made from pistachio paste, but at its best, it uses fresh pistachio nuts toasted just enough to amplify their flavor. The toasted nuts are chopped and soaked in cream for several hours, yielding their flavor to the cream. Confectioners then strain out the nuts to make smooth ice cream, but frequently add whole toasted pistachios to the finished product. Pistachio ice cream’s color, which can range from khaki to bright green, depends on where the nuts come from. As a rule, the greenest ice cream (or gelato) is made with nuts from Italy. At Bob’s Clam Hut in Maine, an ice cream flavor called “Tartar Sauce” is in fact a tromp l’oeil in which coarsely chopped pistachios play the role of pickle bits.