Peach Bourbon Ice Cream

Back in the day, come August, you could find peach ice cream in the stores. Breyer’s I think. It was a one-month thing, like so many foods back then that you ate in-season only and knew they were special and you’d better have them while you could.

These days we’ve become used to and maybe even complacent about the availability of ingredients. Strawberries for example, once so special during the summer, are year round now (and IMHO they don’t taste anything like the seasonal stuff from the old days).

Still, there are a few items that, even today, are only around for a short, get-it-while-you-can time. Shad. Persimmons. Fresh figs.

Also peach ice cream. Somehow, although we can now find peaches throughout the year, peach ice cream still seems to be a summertime-only treat. I’ve bought (and enjoyed) several tubsful recently.

But I couldn’t find a store or stand (near me) that sold peach ice cream flavored with bourbon.

So I made my own.

It was quite wonderful.

I experimented a few times to get the proportions right and the fruit texture correct. Also, I used nectarines, which are easier to peel.

Peach Bourbon Ice Cream

• 3 ripe peaches or nectarines

• 1-1/2 tablespoons melted butter

• 2-1/2 cups cream (I use half and half)

• 4 large egg yolks

• 1/2 cup sugar

• Pinch of salt

• 3 tablespoons bourbon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Peel and slice the peaches. Place the slices on a baking sheet. Pour the melted butter over the fruit and toss the ingredients to coat the fruit with the melted butter. Roast for about 12 minutes or until lightly crispy. Remove from the oven and let cool. When cool, process in a food processor until nearly pureed.

While the peaches are roasting, heat 2 cups of the cream in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the liquid is hot and bubbles have formed around the sides of the pan. Set aside. Beat the egg yolks, sugar and salt together with an electric mixer set at medium speed until the mixture is thick and pale (4-5 minutes). Gradually add the warm cream to the egg mixture, stirring to blend ingredients to a uniform color. Return the egg mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for about 12 minutes or until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let the mixture come to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the remaining cold cream, the bourbon and vanilla extract. Refrigerate the mixture until it is cold. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is thick and nearly done, add the peaches, stir the ingredients and freeze until firm.

Makes 1-quart+

National Peach Ice Cream Day

The biggest fan of peach ice cream I ever knew was my Uncle Irving. He was tall and handsome and blessed with thick, auburn hair, a baseball enthusiast and not given to rhapsodizing about food. But his one real culinary passion was fresh peach ice cream. You could only buy it during the summer, he told me and his daughter, my best friend and cousin Leslie. So, sometime around the middle of July he would walk down the street to the local grocer and buy a carton of Breyer’s. “The first of the season,” he would tell us, with authority.

"You can’t get fresh peach ice cream any other time and it wouldn’t be worth eating anyway, even if you could" he also insisted.

I remember how he showed us the chunks of real Georgia (he said) peaches. Not just peach flavor or flecks of peach. It had real pieces of peach in a vanilla base. It was creamy and it tasted like good peaches, with that floral smell that lets you know summer is ripe and will be for many more weeks.

Today may be National Peach Ice Cream Day, but peach ice cream is a treat that’s summer-long. I learned that many many years ago from my uncle.

Peach ice cream is the kind of thing you eat by itself. It’s too delicate for fudge sauce, sprinkles or marshmallow fluff. If you have an ice cream making machine it’s also easy to make at home and you can add nice size chunks of fruit, just like in the old days.

Homemade Peach Ice Cream

• 6 medium ripe peaches, peeled, pit removed
• 1 cup sugar, preferably superfine sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2-inch piece vanilla bean
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups whole milk

Chop the peaches into small chunks. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the sugar and the lemon juice. Toss the ingredients and set aside for at least 30 minutes. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, place it in a saucepan with the whipping cream and cook over medium heat for a few minutes until hot, and bubbles form around the sides of the pan (do not boil). Remove the pan from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes. In a larger saucepan, place the egg yolks, remaining sugar and salt and beat using a hand mixer at medium speed for 4-5 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and pale in color. Remove the vanilla bean from the hot cream. Gradually pour the hot cream into the egg-sugar mixture and stir (use a wooden spoon or other similar utensil, not a whisk or beater) until the mixture is well blended. Return the saucepan to the cooktop and cook over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 12-15 minutes or until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat. Stir in the milk. Chill in the refrigerator. Stir in the peach mixture. Place in an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Makes about 1-1/2 quarts

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