Peach Ice Cream

According to my mother, the first words I learned to read were ‘ice cream.’  This makes all the sense in the world if you know me at all.  It may also explain the relish with which I learned to read additional words, only to discover that most of them were significantly less delicious than the first.  It was my earliest childhood disappointment, though I suppose literacy is a decent consolation prize.

As a kid, nothing brought me greater pleasure than going to an ice cream parlor and studying the flavors on display in the long, transparent cases, their muted, subtly different hues right there at eye-level.  It was like an edible artist’s palette, seemingly bottomless and filled with sweet promise.  Some had flecks of chocolate or nuts.  Bits of fruit.  Swirls of fudge.  I wanted to take a spoon, dip it into every pot, and paint the world with ice cream.

I loved to watch the people who worked there (the luckiest people on the face of the planet, in my young estimation) scooping out ice cream from the deep cylindrical tubs.  There is something about the texture of ice cream that still thrills me, the way the scoop digs and rolls across the surface.  How the resulting smooth crown and ruffled edges sit precariously atop the cone, defying (or not defying) gravity and clumsy children.  The way the frozen confection is both creamy and crystalline, temporarily suspended in a state somewhere between solid and liquid as you race to devour it before it seeps sloppily from the bottom of the cone.

It all began with strawberry.  What is it with little girls and pink?  But that flavor, to this day, represents all the pleasures and comfort of childhood.  Later I gravitated toward the artificial pale greens of pistachio and mint chocolate chip.  Strawberry ice cream was for babies, you see.  A cone of mint chocolate chip always required jimmies (Massachusetts-talk for chocolate sprinkles).  Brigham’s in the South Shore Plaza was a favorite source.  As I angled for adulthood, the teenage years brought an appreciation for coffee, maple walnut, butter pecan, and mocha in their frosty shades of beige.  I still favor them to this day.

It took years before I realized that the best and most versatile ice cream flavor of all was the white one in the corner with the barely-perceptible flecks of black.  It was hard, though, as a kid to choose Plain Jane vanilla when there were so many flashier options vying for attention, especially once Oreos and cookie dough entered the picture.  To this day, my least favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate.  Chocolate, which is one of my most favoritest things ever!  (Did I forget a superlative in there?)  What can I say, Chocolate Ice Cream, you’re a poor substitute for chocolate.  But the real thing is welcome to be poured, thick and fudge-like, over my vanilla ice cream anytime.

This history is why I’m compelled to make homemade ice cream even though we have about a million sources for quality ice cream in the Boston area, from old-school ice cream shops (J.P. Licks, Cabot’s), to inventive, boutique ice cream bars (Toscanini’s, Christina’s), to farm stands (Bedford Farms, Kimball Farm).  They’re hard to beat and thank goodness we don’t have to.  But for me, there will always be homemade ice cream in my freezer.  Peach ice cream.  Maple ice cream.  And other far more disgusting concoctions of which I have yet to conceive. 

Tammy + Ice Cream 4 Eva.

 

Peach Ice Cream

There’s nothing like peaches and cream in the summertime.  I kept the skins on this time and I liked it!

2 cups ripe peaches, washed, fuzz rubbed off under water, chopped
½ cup sugar, plus ¾ cup more (1¼ cup total)
Juice of ½ lemon
2 large eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk

Combine peaches with ½ cup of the sugar, and stir in lemon juice.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, stirring every half hour.  Pour peaches into a strainer fitted over a bowl and drain, reserving the peach juice.

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Whisk in the remaining ¾ cup sugar, a little at a time.  Pour in the cream, milk, and reserved peach juice, and whisk until sugar is dissolved.  Pour mixture into ice cream machine and freeze following the manufacturer’s instructions (usually spin for 25 minutes).  Add the peach pieces during the last 5 minutes of processing.  Spoon partially frozen mixture into a container, cover, and place in the freezer until firm. 

I tend to like it on the softer side rather than solid as a rock.  If it freezes too hard, let sit on the counter for five minutes before serving.

Source: Adapted from Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book by Ben Cohen, Jerry Greenfield, and Nancy J. Stevens.

Local Ingredients:
Peaches: Carver Hill Orchard, Stow, MA
Cream: High Lawn Farm, Lee, MA
Milk: Our Family Farms of Massachusetts, Greenfield, MA

Comments

[Husband]

The peach iced cream was so good and refreshing that it was hard not to eat it all at once.

[Robert]

Peach ice cream is one of my absolute favorites, and--after one look at the picture--I'm going to have to try that recipe tonight.

[Moopheus]

Peaches are also good for sorbet. I've made white peach sorbet that was one of the best things ever to come out of my ice cream machine. Of course, most fruit works well in sorbet, but that was just the best. Of course, peaches and cream are good too. Peaches are just always good.

[emiglia]

Love this post... you have an incredible way with words. I can just imagine a young you learning to read thanks to ice cream!

[megan]

I am there with you on the Vanilla/Chocolate thing... I will opt for Chocolate deserts of all shapes and sizes but when it comes to ice cream a good vanilla is hard to beat. But I love mixing it up too and adding a scoop here or there of the transitional adult flavourings.

[Kate @ Savour Fare]

My friend says that when it comes to ice cream (really, this comment was talking about gelato, which is a slightly different beast, particularly when it comes to chocolate, but I think it's still relevant), people fall into two main categories -- the fruits, and the browns. Browns are the chocolates,the butter pecans, the caramels and the hazelnuts. The glorious beige. (Pistachio also falls into the brown category, and after some consideration, I think the chocolate chips push mint chip into that as well). Then there are those who want strawberry, raspberry ripple, orange sherbet. I am definitively a brown, but in the summer, I develop a strong craving for perfect peach ice cream. Nothing else tastes quite so much like summer.

[Lauren]

Wow, I have GOT to get an ice cream maker! This sounds incredible!

[adele]

I've come to think that the best job setup ever would be to work in a bakery in winter and an ice-cream shop in summer. Even if I would be spherical as a result.

My favorite flavor as a child was strawberry, too.

[Lisa]

Mmm, mint chocolate chip ice cream with jimmies was a childhood fave (and still reigns supreme in my book!). I rarely order strawberry but it's recipes like this one that make me second-guess my ice cream order. Also makes me want to purchase an ice cream machine.

[Kirsty]

I totally agree about the chocolate ice cream thing - I looooovvvveeee chocolate but rarely (if ever) choose chocolate ice cream... And I love mint-choc-chip!
We went on holiday to Italy 2 years ago and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven... My favourite flavours there were yoghurt (yummy, creamy, lemony) and stracciatella (vanilla with huge chunks of chocolate)...
One question, though: your peach ice cream sounds lovely and would certainly be a big hit here... But I have neither the space nor the money to buy an ice cream maker, so how would I go about doing this recipe without one (bearing in mind that I'm far from a skilled cook...)?
Thanks!

[sunny12]

Kirsty, there are lots of posts around the web on making ice cream without a maker, basically you make the base and keep it in the freezer, and every hour or so put the base through a blender to break up the ice. Check David Lebovitz's website for more info. But seriously, an ice cream maker is a great investment, I love mine to death and use it about twice a month at least.

[kerry in Maine]

Can anyone help me find a good peach? I haven't seen one since I worked at a farm in Maryland 10 years ago. They are all horrible and mealy. What gives? Where can I get a good peach? Thanks!

[Tammy]

kerry: I can never find a good peach in the supermarket, that's for sure. I've had good luck at local orchards like Carver Hill Orchard and Autumn Hills Orchard, but that won't help you up in Maine. Farmer's markets? Maybe there's someone local with a peach tree? I just picked a whole bunch of peaches at a friend of a friend's house in Dorchester and, although some of them looked a little gnarly, they tasted GREAT!

sunny12: I agree--I love my ice cream maker!

Kirsty: Here's the David Lebovitz link on how to make ice cream without a machine, as sunny12 mentioned: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/making-ice-crea-1/
You can even just use a whisk to stir around the ice crystals. It's totally doable, just takes a little longer!

Lisa: Maybe you have a birthday coming up?

adele: Spherical, schmerical!

Lauren: It was yummy, that's for sure.

Kate: Interesting theory. Then I, too, am a brown, with the occasional well-timed fruity binge!

megan: And the transitional adult flavoring options are endless!

emiglia: Thanks so much. The way to a child's heart...

Moopheus: I need to make more sorbets. For some reason, don't ask me how, cream always makes its way into my desserts!

Robert: Hope you like it! You must have good access to peaches down where you live!

Husband: It really was!

[Karen]

An ice cream machine is on my wish list... until then, I'm bookmarking a long list of recipes to try! Have you tried The Black Cow? They're a local creamery with locations in Natick and Millis - so creamy and with some great and unusual flavor combos.

[Dolly]

lovely!!!