This part of the summer – the smokin' hot, firecrackers and watermelons, Fourth of July and long days at the pool part of summer – ushers in with it one of my tongue's favorite times in the Southland: the ripening of the season's beautiful and delicious fresh peaches.
I actually mostly grew up in a town not far from GAFFNEY, South Carolina, where they produce crop after crop of the most delicious peaches I've ever eaten and they do so proudly. Proudly to the degree that they have sculpted and painted their most prominent roadside water tower into a GINORMOUS peach, The Peachoid. No kiddin', y'all. And the funniest thing about the GAFFNEY peach is that the view of this fuzzy wonder from one direction on Interstate 85 has earned it the whimsical nickname, The GAF-FANNY.
That's right. From the side where you can't see the pretty green leaf atop the blushing fruit, this water tower looks like a humongous naked bum.
And they just LEAVE it that way, year in and year out.
Go figure!
We love our peaches, though, cracks and all. And we love to turn them into sinful desserts, nearly as much as we just like to peel 'em and slice 'em over our cereal every morning for a couple months, or just eat 'em out on the back porch as the juice slides down our wrists, drips off our elbows and makes sticky, sweet-smelling puddles on our thighs.
In my own family's Fourth of July celebration, it's become tradition to use a little basket of these bright, fragrant, spheres-o-heaven to make homemade hand-churned (no electric churns for us, thankyouverymuch!) fresh peach ice cream. I'll be upholding that tradition in my little Southern annex up here in the Chicago suburbs tomorrow, and I wanted to get y'all the recipe up before it was too late for you to join me.
What follows is my Grandmama Clover's recipe, the one she used her whole life and passed down to my Mom, who's passed it on to me, and that I hope one day my daughter will make and have her children churn, together in their own back yard, as I sit sleepily under a tree in my rickety lounge chair sipping sweet tea with plenty of lemon, watching and waiting with great anticipation.
Grandmama Clover’s Fresh Peach Ice Cream
1 ½ quarts whole milk, scalded
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
Additional whole milk, cream, or half and half
1 quart peeled, mashed fresh peaches
Beat eggs until frothy and light yellow and a little thickened. Add sugar gradually and stir in remaining ingredients. Temper egg mixture with a small amount of scalded milk and then add remaining milk. Cook and stir over medium heat to just before boiling. Mixture will thicken. Cool and place in one gallon container of ice cream churn. Place in mixture in refrigerator overnight or at least a good part of the day so it is nice and cold before churning.
Just before freezing, add at least 1 pint of cream and 1 quart of peeled and mashed fresh peaches. Fill container to within 2” of top with your choice of half and half, whole milk, or cream or any combination thereof.
Freeze according to your churn's directions and enjoy!
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The ice cream sounds wonderful! I grew up not far from gaffney, nc…and yes, I snicker every time I drive by the butt…er, I mean peach
Oh. My. We make homemade vanilla all summer long, but this? Heavenly. Writing it down and committing it to memory.
I just had to comment….not about the peach ice cream, but about the Gaffney peach. I've been transplanted in the southwest for four years, but my husband and I went to college not far from Gaffney and our annual trip to Asheville was never complete without a good laugh at the larger-than-life example of fine South Carolina produce. Thanks for the memory!