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| Homemade ice cream. |
The mixture (milk, eggs, sugar, flavoring, sometimes fruit)
would be prepared, perhaps just vanilla, but often chocolate, strawberry, or
during peach season peach ice cream. The
mixture would be put into the metal canister of the ice cream maker, the dash
would be placed in the mixture, the top was put on and the handle for turning
was added. Ice and rock salt would be packed around the outside of the
canister. Salt made the ice melt faster
causing the mixture inside to freeze.
The crank had to be turned constantly, and sometimes a child would sit
on top of the ice maker to stabilize it when someone was turning the
crank. At first, the crank turns easily,
but as the ice cream hardens, it becomes very difficult to turn. That tells you the ice cream is ready. Kids
would often fight over who got to lick the dash as it was taken out of the ice
cream. There is nothing better than ice
cream made this way. I need to see if I
can find our old ice cream maker.
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| Ice cream maker. |
At school, at least beginning in the sixth grade when we
were over in the high school building, we could buy ice cream from the school
store which was just across from Mr. Padgett’s office. Someone would collect our money and we could
order a fudgcicle, a chocolate-covered Popsicle, an ice cream sandwich, or an
orangecicle. Maybe some other things. My
favorite was chocolate covered Popsicle. I think most were 5 or 10 cents. Looking back I think I always had ice cream
money, but I bet there were some kids who never had the money for ice cream and
there we sat eating ours while they watched.
That seems cruel now.
As an adult, I still have enjoyed more than my share of
frozen desserts. Breyer’s Ice Cream and
Klondike Bars are among my favorite commercial desserts. But when I had my first Maple Walnut Ice
Cream at COWS down on the waterfront in Halifax, Nova Scotia I was sure I had
found the “Golden Fleece” of ice cream.
Maple walnut has become my very favorite flavor, and it is difficult to
find down here in the south. But lo and
behold several years ago Local Fresh opened up over on Glenwood, and now it is
my all-time favorite ice cream shop.
Occasionally they make maple walnut, but not as often as I would
enjoy. But they will make me a special
order of the maple walnut if I purchase a gallon.
I’ve had gelato in Italy and crème glacée in France. I
like ice cream in the old fashioned kind of cone, but I also like milk-shakes,
ice cream floats (particularly made with Cheerwine), banana splits, and
chocolate nut sundaes. And there are those many flavors of Cook Out milkshakes.
I also like frozen custard.
When I was still teaching one of my students told me he was working at
Goodberry’s in Raleigh. I had never
heard of Goodberry’s, but I discovered it was actually more or less on the
route I took going home from work each day. After that, I would stop every Friday and have
an ice cream treat. My favorite there is
a Carolina Concrete, vanilla with wet walnuts and caramel sauce.
Alas about a year ago, I became dairy intolerant so that put
a kibosh on my eating ice cream that I love, but there are now many plant-based
frozen concoctions that are equally tasty.
Of course, sherbet has no dairy so I can eat that, and there is “ice
cream” made from cashew milk and almond milk. Even my Local Fresh has almond milk ice cream. My recent discovery is Revolution Cardamom Spice plant-based delight. Boy it is delicious.
But every now and then I have to sneak away to Local Fresh and have a serving of real ice cream. So good!!!!
