Easy Cook: Homemade Instant Peach Ice Cream

I confess that I have many favorite homemade ice cream flavors; my most favorite flavor is peach ice cream. The summertime with ripe, juicy peaches is the perfect time to make this ice cream. Here is a recipe for peach ice cream that literally takes less than 10 minutes to mix up. You just need 4 ingredients, a wire whip and an ice cream churner. How simple can that be? And this ice creams is smooth and really quite delicious. It is much lower in fat and calories than commercial ice cream. You will surely impress family and friends.

Prima® Peaches

I discovered these huge and aromatic peaches recently at a local grocery store. They are Prima® peaches. I’ve never seen such gigantic peaches. And there was not a blemish on any peach. (Although they were pricey.) After sitting on my counter for a couple of days, the peaches were juicy and flavorful.

It turns out that these peaches are grown by the Gerawan family in the fertile farmland in California‘s San Joaquin Valley. This is west of Fresno, California. These ranches are along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The family has been farming since 1938 with now the third generation of family members involved.

Gerawan Farming is the nation’s largest grower of peaches, plums and nectarines, and among the leaders in table grapes. The peaches are hand picked, placed in buckets — not bins. The farm grows and packs it’s own fruit with up to 100,000 boxes a day.

The farm employees over 5000 farm workers. It appears that Gerawan Farming has been involved in an ongoing discussion or dispute about recognizing a farm worker’s labor union. I don’t know enough about this issue other than to comment on the complexities of growing farm produce in this country. We are fortunate to have quality produce in this country and the balance between farm workers and the farm owners is not simple.  Sources:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gerawan-farming-completes-historic-agricultural-conservation-easement-139488663.html

https://prima.com/

Instant Peach Ice Cream

This is a delicious ice cream and takes less than 10 minutes to mix up for the ice cream churner. The ice cream is smooth and the aromatic flavor of the peaches shines through. The recipe uses only four ingredients: ripe peaches, cold milk, sugar and a box of instant pudding mix. The instant pudding makes this blend so easy and also incorporates air for a very creamy texture. I tried several variations — using either vanilla or lemon pudding mix — and varying the sugar and number of peaches. Both pudding flavors taste great; the main thing to remember is to purchase instant pudding (not the kind that needs cooking) and to purchase regular pudding mix (not sugar-free). Ice cream needs sugar.I used my Cuisinart food processor to prepare the ice cream mix for churning to make things simpler. Ir is also easy to use a wire whip to mix the ice cream blend.  Both the food processor and my Cuisinart ice cream churner have size limits; this is a small recipe — the ingredient quantities are just right for the equipment.

I used 2 cups of peeled, chopped peaches. (This is 2 huge Prima® peaches or 3 typical peaches.) Add the peach chunks to the food processor along with sugar and puree the mixture. Some chunks remained; that added to the favor. To make by hand, just mash the peaches with a fork or use a potato masher.

I used whole milk rather than heavy cream — thus cutting down on the calories. You might describe this as a type of sherbet. Remember to use cold milk — not room temperature or warm milk. This is an “instant ice cream mix.”

After the peaches and sugar were pureed; I added the cold milk and a box of instant vanilla (or lemon) pudding. I processed the mix for several minutes until the pudding started to thicken. By hand, use a wire whip to beat for several minutes to incorporate air — the pudding may begin to thicken.

Then add to the ice cream churner. (The mix should already be cold if you used cold milk.)  Process until smooth.

Transfer the ice cream to a plastic storage container and let harden a little further in the freezer. Or eat immediately!

Best Peach Ice Cream

The best peach ice cream that I can remember was in Bridgewater, Virginia, several years ago at the annual summer Volunteer Fireman’s Lawn Party. This might be called a “town fair” in other parts of the country.  Most small towns in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, have volunteer fire departments and the summer festival is their major fund raising event. My brother and I enjoyed the night’s activities including a parade and display of antique tractors and farm equipment.

And we ate homemade peach ice cream being sold by a local service organization.

Enjoy!  And I’ll give my recipe and techniques — not so easy — for making homemade ice cream waffle cones in an upcoming blog.