Peach Ice-Cream

It occurs to me that I have a lot of wonderful associations with peaches. When we lived in Northern California my brothers and I would walk to the city pool on hot summer days, always stopping by the Libby's cannery where boxes of not good enough peaches would be waiting for folks to pick up. We'd grab an overripe juicy peach to eat on the way to the pool, knowing that however messy it got we'd soon be able to wash off all the stickyness and peach residue by jumping into the ice cold pool water. To this day, I can smell a peach and be right back to those hot summer days in Gridley.

Peach was also the pie of choice for lazy summer nights on my grandmother's porch in West Virginia. Sometimes they were home baked and sometimes they came from the A&P store, just across the street. Grownups would talk the night away while we kids gorged ourselves on pie and ice-cream, sometimes falling asleep right there on the porch while lightning bugs cast flickering lights all around us.

The best summer ice-cream, though, came from my Uncle Al and his marvelous home-made crank ice-cream maker. As a child, I marveled at the magic of putting stuff into a wooden bucket, turning a crank (with lots of Beckett consternation looks and verbal exclamations added), and then seeing ice-cream come out as the end product. My uncle was clearly in charge of this amazing process of making the ice-cream but we kids would be enlisted to help turn the crank until it got so stiff that only Uncle Al's brute strength could finish the job. Any ice-cream Al made was mighty good stuff but I loved peach the best. A big bowlful of fresh peaches in a smooth, delicious ice-cream was a tiny bit of heaven on earth, especially when it came as the final course of a good old-fashioned Beckett cook-out from Al and Janet's back patio.

I wouldn't even try to duplicate my uncle's world class ice-cream recipes but this one is pretty darned good. It turned out creamy and froze well. It absolutely bursts with the flavor of peaches - and a lifetime of memories.

Fresh Peach Ice Cream

5-6 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced


1 1/2 cups granulated sugar


Juice of 1 large lemon


1-2 tsp. vanilla extract


1/8 tsp. almond extract (optional, but delicious)


2 cups heavy cream (don’t sub for light cream or half-and-half)

In a large bowl, mix together the peaches, sugar, lemon juice, and extracts. Let sit for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved and peaches have released their juices. Mash with a potato masher. Measure out 2 cups of the mashed peaches. Reserve the remaining mashed peaches in a small bowl and chill until very cold. Puree the 2 cups in a blender or food processor. Add the heavy cream and pour into a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill until very cold. (If you’re in a hurry, you can place it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Whisk it well in case it freezes around the edge of the bowl.)

Churn according to manufacturer directions. Mix reserved mashed peaches with the ice cream after it’s finished churning and place in an airtight, freezer-proof container. Allow the ice cream to harden for a few hours in the freezer before serving.

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.