We all scream for ice cream

Rhubarb Ice Cream recipe

(If you would like to listen to the interview with Ashley Thronberg and Doug Hamilton on Prairie Public Radio - CLICK HERE)

Who doesn’t like frozen sweet treats? And, today there are so many flavors to pick from that we could eat ice cream every day. There’s no less than six days celebrating ice cream in June.

• June 2: National Rocky Road Ice Cream Day
• June 4: National Frozen Yogurt Day
• June 7: National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
• June 20: National Vanilla Milkshake Day
• June 25: National Strawberry Parfait Day
• June 30: National Ice Cream Soda Day

However, nothing that can beat the taste of home-made ice cream. It used to be the summer time treat of choice in the early days when everyone had their own milk cows or lived in a rural community close enough to the farm to be able to purchase fresh cream.

On a few Saturdays, which was always baking day at my house, my mom would hand me a quart jar with a dollar bill in it and ask me to bike over to the Schlittenhard farm. It was the closest farm to the east end of Gackle. I would exchange the jar for one filled with freshly-separated cream.

That cream was for caramel rolls or kuchen most of the time because ice cream was a very special treat at our house. We didn’t have our own cow so we ate something called Ice Milk.  Yep, it was less expensive than store-bought ice cream and had less calories.

According to Wikopedia, Ice milk is a frozen dessert with less than 10 percent milk fat and the same sweetener content as ice cream. Ice milk is sometimes priced lower than ice cream.

However, in 1994 a change in United States Food and Drug Administration rules allowed ice milk to be labeled as low-fat ice cream in the United States. And of course, the price for low-fat anything is slightly higher than the real deal these days. It’s all in a name.

Again, there’s nothing better than real ice cream; which is so easy to make. The ingredients are simply cream, milk, sugar and flavoring. I love vanilla the best especially when made with real vanilla beans.

If you like really rich ice cream there are several recipes made with egg yolks. The color is creamy yellow and the flavor is very rich. This ice cream is cooked like a pudding, and then chilled before freezing it in the ice cream freezer. The other stuff can simply be mixed, chilled and then put in the ice cream freezer.

For those of you who feel they cannot justify a 5-quart ice cream machine, or find rock salt, or just don’t want to bother sharing your creamy concoctions; you can invest in a small $50 Cuisinart. The inside container is kept in the freezer until it is needed and it makes about 1 quart of homemade ice cream. They don’t take up much space and are well worth it if your family loves ice cream.

In my experimenting with the flavors in the handy recipe book that comes with the unit, I have also developed some of my own. At Christmas I make Egg Nog Ice Cream and in July, cinnamon ice cream has become my favorite.

If you don’t like exotic flavors, You can add just about anything to the cream mixture you have around the house like snicker bars or peanut butter cups chopped in pieces. Some of the recipes that I have tried are S’mores, peanut butter, rhubarb and chokecherry ice cream.
My old standby is vanilla made with the bean. That’s because you can easily add nuts, chocolate, caramel, etc. etc. etc. to plain old vanilla and you can change your mind about flavors on a whim.

Besides vanilla bean vanilla there are several other ways to make a great vanilla ice cream.
There’s French Vanilla, Vanilla and New York Vanillas out there. I did a little research to see what the differences were and I found a couple of vintage ice cream recipes.

In these two recipes I found from 1907 for French Vanilla and New York Vanilla, the French Vanilla has cream and egg yolks in abundance. The New York Vanilla has half milk and half cream and fewer whole eggs for a little less rich ice cream.

So, if you love ice cream, I would recommend you give it a try. Oh, and if you are fortunate to score some real cream, you know the kind that comes from real cows with no added ingredients, my Aunt Laverna and Uncle Clifton suggest adding a tablespoon of brandy to your ice cream recipe to minimize the raw “cream” taste. Oh so they say.

Italian Ice Cream (1907 Recipe)

• 1 gallon double cream
• 2 1/4 lbs. granulated sugar
• 32 egg yolks
• 2 fine-cut vanilla beans

To get the best flavor of the vanilla bean, it should be heated to the boiling point in one quart of the cream and let infuse for one hour. Put the sugar in a basin or sauce pan, add the yolks and beat well together, add the cream gradually, set on the fire and keep stirring till the yolks begin to thicken. Take off the fire, add the one quart with the vanilla; strain and cool. Put the mixture in the freezing can and freeze nice and smooth.


French Ice Cream (1907 Recipe)

• 1 gallon cream
• 2 lbs. sugar
• 24 yolks
• 2 vanilla beans split and cut in small pieces

Prepare the same as directed in [the recipe for Italian Ice Cream].


New York Ice Cream (1907 Recipe)

• 2 quarts milk
• 2 quarts cream
• 1 3/4 lbs. sugar
• 16 whole eggs
• Flavoring

Make a custard same as directed in [Italian Ice Cream]. Strain, cool, add flavoring and freeze.
If you only want a quart, here’s a recipe for rhubarb ice cream since rhubarb is abundant. If you have strawberries you can also make topping for rhubarb ice cream and then wow, enjoy.