Summertime has more meanings than than Van Camp™ has Pork ‘n Beans. For many of us summertime is a time of Guilty Pleasure; timepieces tossed aside, schedules abandoned, diets forgotten—you name it. A Guilty Pleasure for me is home-churned-fresh-peach-Ice cream!
I remember from childhood the labor of love—hand-cranking an ice cream churn in its cedar bucket full of cracked ice, rock-salt, a metal churn—the dasher twirling inside. We churned—at home, at church, at Fourth of July—any occasion—or non-occasion to produce that delicious frozen delectation! When Paige and I had children, early on we introduced them to homemade ice cream. Turning a hand-crank-churn for 25 or so minutes was not their kind of joy, but they soldered on for the prize—delicious homemade ice cream of any flavor—vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, and—in season—-peach!
Jennifer and I just got back from vacation; on the way through Peach County, we stopped at a peach orchard-market for delicious Georgia peaches. Once at home, we began to gather ingredients necessary to make a churn of peach ice cream. Following her mother’s famous homemade ice cream recipe, Jennifer discovered one essential ingredient missing; We searched locally for two days, and I found it. (bought 4 boxes, just in case we want to do this again soon). We put our skills together—using Paige’s recipe—and put the churn to work. Twenty four minutes later we opened that churn of homemade—fresh-peach-ice cream!
I must confess; her kids now grown, find less excitement in this experience. Our memories and fascination do not appeal to them. So full disclosure, We did not hand crank this churn. For decades Paige and I used a hand-cranked (White Mountain™ ) churn. I always spurned any electric ice cream churn—“they are wimps, yielding soupy ice cream,” I said.—-Until—-Al Coltrane brought his electric White Mountain™ churn to an ice cream party at our house. To myself, I sniffed, “Yet another soupy churn of ice cream.” To my astonishment, the ice cream was so hard the dasher had to be removed by brute force. So, today, with our White Mountain™ electric ice cream freezer —-which has now been in use for a few years—Jennifer truckled to her dear old dad—and together we made homemade fresh peach ice cream. I would invite you over, but I am more than confident it will be gone before you read this.
I was thinking; I had been quite persnickety in my belief that no electric ice cream freezer could ever measure up to the old hand-crank-turn-till-you-can’t. Fortunately, Al saved me from missing out out on a valuable tool for my guilty pleasure. I am reminded of how the Apostle Paul remonstrated the Church at Rome about their high-and-mighty attitude: Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance. but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you all. There is joy in the company of friends; there is greater joy when love, laughter, and leeway is abundant.
©Copyrithe 2024 Willis H. Moore
Made me want some.
We used to go to the park and make ice cream. I learned to put the custard in the freezer for a few minutes to get a jump on the time. At unions we would get a game going on how many minutes one could last before giving up. No one wanted to be a wimp.
I can remember the Hartley families would gather at our house for homemade ice cream. We had a 5 gallon churn. Don’t remember exactly how Daddy used the back tire on his pickup truck to churn the ice cream, but he did and it was delicious. Remember it was so big.
Thanks again Willis for your story. Love them my friend from SHS
Willis, you can probably imagine how much I liked this story! As soon as we get Al home from Encompass Rehab (next Tuesday) we need to celebrate with homemade ice cream. I am pretty sure that Brad, Bronwyn (who is arriving tomorrow to spend a week with us) and I could follow his directions. We even have a box of ice cream salt in the garage. And fresh peaches are still available (grown in Chilton County, Alabama’s version of Fort Valley, GA) for another week or two . Yum!