My husband is lactose intolerant, so everyone once in a while I get the itch to try and make a lactose free ice cream even though I don't own an ice cream maker. I think of it sorta like a challenge to see what I can come up with. This time though I think I came across something fairly decent, and it could be even better if churned I imagine. I started by playing around with nice cream, but couldn't shake that banana taste. I always want the ice cream to taste as close to regular ice cream as possible. I tried using roasted Japanese sweet potatoes in place of banana, and that was a start! Apparently Japanese Sweet Potatoes taste like chestnuts, but I've never had a chestnut so who knows. I figured though that it was an easier flavor to work with than the ostentatious banana. I blended the potatoes in my Vitamix with some vegetable oil (to get some fat in there) and flavorings (vanilla and a splash of whiskey) and got a very creamy pudding. I froze the potato pudding and then blended the frozen potato pudding with ultra filtered milk (Fairlife/ Mootopia) with some protein powder. It was closer to soft serve, but very creamy! I threw out back in the freezer and it's a little icy, but I imagine that if it was churned then it would be much better. 

Here's roughly the ingredients I used. I tried to aim for 25%-33% fat ratio. I was using the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream book for some basic ice cream theory. Awesome book- definitely recommend!

2 cups roasted Japanese Sweet Potato 

1/2 cup neutral oil

2 Tbs Vanilla Bean Paste 

1 Tbs whiskey/ bourbon/ rum

1 cup of ultra filtered lactose free milk

2 scoops of unflavored whey protein powder (I used isopure unflavored whey)

I think the Japanese sweet potato when blended turns into an almost pudding-like creation is because it apparently is one of, if not the most, starchy potatoes. So instead of having an instant pudding that relies on cornstarch to set- you're using potato starch. Or at least that's what I imagine. Thank you for your time if you read all this! 

Lactose free Ice cream using Japanese Sweet Potato