Homemade Ice Cream
Is there anything better than
homemade ice cream? There is nothing better to me. All ice
cream is good but there is something very special about the
kind made with the old fashioned ice cream freezer with the
crank on the side.
As I grew up making ice cream was the highlight of many
social events. There was always a new recipe to try. My
favorite was banana. We’d take turns cranking the ice cream
maker. As the milk froze, the crank was harder to turn. I
always liked to take my turn early.
In preparing the freezer for making the ice cream, a metal
canister was filled with a milk mixture and surrounded by
ice in a larger wooden bucket. Salt was mixed with the ice.
The salt lowered the freezing point of the ice and caused
the milk mixture to freeze on the side of the canister. A
crank turned a paddle inside the canister which scraped off
the frozen milk from its side and let a new layer freeze.
Making a freezer of ice cream usually took about 30
minutes.
Most people did not have refrigerators, and ice was not
always easy to come by. Grocery stores had no way to keep
ice to sell; so ice was usually bought from an ice truck
that came to the community frequently. Many families had
ice boxes which were well insulated and had a compartment
at the top that housed a block of ice. Although the purpose
of the ice box was to preserve food, we often chipped ice
from the box to use in making the ice cream.
When I was in high school Daddy was always home before
Mother each day. He frequently made a freezer of ice cream.
He liked to add different fruits to the mixture to present
a surprise dessert for supper. He had a freezer with a
small electric motor that replaced the crank mechanism.
Today ice cream is so readily available in grocery stores
and special ice cream stores that we seldom get out the ice
cream freezer.
I still believe homemade is the best.