I still have plenty of strawberries left after my Traditional Strawberry Shortcake earlier this week. Since we’ve had some pretty hot weather here in Georgia, it seemed like the time to make some strawberry ice cream. I can hear your mouth watering!

When I was a kid, every summertime gathering was topped off with hand-churned, creamy, sweet homemade ice cream. It was a big production – the egg-rich custard put together the night before, snug in its canister in the fridge, a big white bowl full of sliced strawberries sparkling with sugar and piles of ice in old aluminum coolers.

The old wooden ice cream freezer had seen a gazillion bowls of frozen goodness made. All the men would gather around to argue about how much ice and salt to use, making sure it was set up in a place where it wouldn’t kill the grass. Most everybody’s yard had a bald spot somewhere that became the ice cream making place.

Once the ratio of salt to ice was agreed to, one of the ladies would bring out the frosted canister with the strawberries added. It would be carefully placed in the bucket and fastened down. The ice and salt went in around it, packed in good and a folded up burlap bag folded on top.

That’s when the kids went to work. The little kids took turns sitting on the scratchy burlap to hold down the bucket good. The big kids (or big kid wannabes) would take turns cranking the handle around and around. As the ice cream started to freeze, it became harder to crank and the strongest kids would show off, struggling to turn the handle.

It seemed then that it took forever but the longest wait was to come. When it was just too hard to crank, it would be packed all around with more burlap and then we had to let it “ripen”. Knowing you were just minutes away from strawberry ice cream heaven made minutes pass very slowly.

Finally, the canister was removed, wiped to remove the salt and the top removed. Someone would take a spoon and remove about an eighth of an inch of the ice cream (in case a grain of salt found its way in), then dip in a spoon and taste it like it was fine wine. All us kids, mouths watering, waited to hear the taster’s verdict. Once it was declared “the best we’ve ever made”, we would line up with our bowls. Everybody got a heaping ladle full and we would get brain freezes, trying to eat it up before it melted, then slurping up the melted, sweet custard in the bottom of the bowl.

This recipe is a little different from what we had back in the day because that old recipe had a full dozen raw eggs. Of course, we know that eating raw eggs is not very safe, although amazingly, we survived it. This updated recipe uses a cooked custard, still very rich with eggy, creamy goodness. Definitely not a low-fat dessert but if you’re going to go to that much trouble, you shouldn’t care!

This is one of those recipes where I say “be careful” a lot. First of all, be careful not to let your milk and cream get beyond a simmer. It will change the taste and texture of your ice cream. Just a bare movement of the surface of the custard will do it.

The key to this recipe is properly tempering the eggs. You want to bring the heat up slowly to avoid scrambling them. Be patient, believe me, it’s worth it. That gentle warm-up is going to heat the eggs through so they incorporate properly.

Pour into the canister and put it in the fridge at least long enough to put a good chill on it Make sure you pour the berries AND the juice into the custard so you don’t lose any flavor.

Once its ice cold, put it into your freezer and process. Most freezers today are electric and don’t need much effort to end up with ice cream. If you’re lucky enough to have an old hand crank freezer and a passel of kids hanging out, do it the old-fashioned way. Just be careful not to get a brain freeze.

[recipe title=”Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream” servings=”8-10″ time=”90 minutes” difficulty=”easy”]

Ingredients

• 4 cups strawberries, stems removed, sliced
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ¾ cup white sugar divided
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract

Directions

Combine the strawberries with the lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a bowl. Toss until the ingredients are well incorporated and allow to macerate in the refrigerator for several hours to let the natural juice of the strawberry come out.

In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks. Add granulated and brown sugars as well as salt and whisk together until lightened in color and smooth.

Pour the half and half, the heavy cream, and the vanilla bean into a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally

Use a ladle to transfer one spoonful at a time of the hot cream to the egg yolk mixture while whisking the entire time. Your goal is to slowly mix in the hot mixture to temper the eggs but not to cook them. Continue to slowly add the hot cream while whisking until all of it has been thoroughly combined.

Return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. For me, this is more of a gut feel thing to know when it was ready, but you can definitely tell when the mixture has thickened. Do not let it get to the point where the eggs begin to cook. You should be able to touch the mixture with your finger without burning yourself

Pour the mixture into a bowl and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least four hours.

Alternatively, you can pour the mixture into a bowl and set over another large bowl filled with ice water. Stir to cool the mixture down. You want the custard to be ice cold before churning.

Stir the chilled strawberry mixture into the custard.

Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s directions.

This batch took 40 minutes.
[/recipe]