Strawberry Ice Cream Day!

It’s National Strawberry Ice Cream Day! Who knew?? Seems there is a “National Day” for just about anything nowadays, but it’s always great to recognize something you love))

Main Street Trolley

One of the most fun things that we like to do since moving into our new home a few years ago, is to travel down the Tanglefoot Trail in our golf cart. Sometimes we travel from Pontotoc to Ecru, MS and this usually includes a stop at the Main Street Trolley.

They have ice cream cones for $1.00!! Who can resist this bargain! My choice on this day was cookies and cream and the hubby had strawberry.

Ecru is a small community with a main street and all the essentials right downtown. It’s becoming a picture right out of It’s a Wonderful Life. It has boutiques, restaurants, churches, a post office, and a Dollar General. We’re getting accustomed to depending on Dollar General about as much as we depend on Walmart!

McCoy’s grocery is stocked with anything you need plus a great fresh meat department.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Back to the reason for this post, strawberry ice cream. It’s one of my favorite flavors and especially good for homemade recipes.

Back in the day, darn, there’s that phrase again….I think it ages me. I’m going to stop saying it!

When I was young, we made homemade ice cream in a crank freezer. It was a long process. Mother would make up the mixture which was usually vanilla, and Daddy would layer ice and rock salt around the metal container that held the mixture.

The best ice for making ice cream was store-bought which for us, usually came from the Ice Plant in Oxford, MS, or in New Albany. I can remember Daddy driving around to the back of the building and a man would load this big chunk of clear block ice into an ice crusher. It was terribly loud. The machine spit out the crushed ice into a bag and we would go either back home to make ice cream or maybe go to Sardis Lake for a picnic.

We kids would take a turn at the hand crank and turn the handle until we got tired. The closer the ice cream came to freezing, the harder the cranking would become. The ice cream freezer was made of wood and you always had to make ice cream either on the back porch or out under a tree because it would leak water. Later on, we got a new plastic ice cream maker, no more leaking! But we still had to turn the handle.

Summer Ice Cream Suppers

Making ice cream was sometimes a community affair, either by family or friend groups and sometimes the church. Several women would get together and bring different kinds of ice cream – vanilla, banana, or strawberry ice cream mixtures. The men and kids would do the cranking and everyone would enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Did you know…..you can STILL buy wooden hand-crank ice cream freezers? Well, I didn’t not that I’ll be purchasing one anytime soon, but here’s a link if you’re interested)) Classic Wooden Tub Ice Cream Freezer with Hand Crank.

Later on, we all got electric freezers…..oh happy day!

Here’s a recipe from Betty Crocker’s 1950 Cookbook for homemade ice cream.

How to Make Freezer Ice Cream (in a crank freezer)

• Chill the freezer can and the mixture
• Place the can in the freezer tub. Put the dasher in place. Fill can 2/3 full (allowing for expansion). Cover. Adjust crank.
• Fill freezer tub 1/3 full of ice (crushed until it’s like rock salt.) Add remaining crushed ice alternately with layers of coarse salt.
• Use 3 to 6 parts ice to 1 part salt. Pack solidly.
• Let the mixture stand in the ice-packed freezer for about 5 min. before turning the crank. Turn slowly at first (5 to 10 min.) to ensure smooth, fine-grained ice cream. Then turn rapidly until the crank turns with difficulty.
• Draw off the water. Wipe off and remove the lid. Take out the dasher. Plg opening in lid. Pack the mixture down. Repack in ice and salt. Cover with heavy cloth. Let ripen.

Easy peasy right? Not!

Here’s the recipe for the mixture.

Philadelphia Ice Cream

• Mix together….
• 1 qt cream, scalded
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Cool…Blend in
• 1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt

For strawberry ice cream, add 1 & 1/2 cups mashed strawberries sweetened with 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar.

Freeze in the ice cream freezer using 5 parts ice to 1 part salt. Amount: 6 servings (1 qt)

By the way, if you don’t know how to “scald” milk, you heat it until just tiny bubbles form around the edge, never let it boil.

Making Ice Cream in the 1920’s

Now, if you think the above process for making ice cream seems a little time-consuming or difficult, watch this video of my dad as he tells about how they made ice cream when he was a boy.

He and his cousin Carl would walk three miles to the store to get 50# of ice. Carry it back home in a toe sack and make ice cream in a molasses bucket by turning the bucket by hand in the ice bath. He mentions swatting candle flies away from the coal oil lantern. Making ice cream was an all-day affair that didn’t finish until nighttime because of the walk to and from the store and the amount of time it took for the ice cream to freeze. Daddy was 96 at the time he told me this story, and yes he smoked almost until the very end of his life. He died in 2020 at age 98. It wasn’t his lungs that caused his death.

Fast Forward to the Present

Now it’s just the two of us at home, but we still love homemade ice cream. Don’t get me wrong, we do our share of stopping by the Trolley to get strawberry ice cream cones, but now we have a new Ninja Ice Cream Maker! It makes a pint at a time….and it’s easy!

I’m still in the process of trying out new recipes and methods, but it’s working out pretty well so far!

I really hadn’t planned to make this post about the Ninja Ice Cream Maker today, so I just took a quick pic of what was in the freezer. I’ll do better later. But the ice cream is made in single pints at a time. I store the leftovers in small containers and put them back in the freezer. I think the container in the back is a banana ice cream. You can make smoothies, sorbet, etc with the machine, but that calls for a whole new post)))

Today we celebrate strawberry ice cream! Enjoy a serving of your favorite brand. If ours isn’t hand-dipped we usually go for Blue Bell))) What’s your favorite flavor or brand?

more from my blog

Rice Krispie Treats with Vanilla Filling

Lemon Coolers

Mexican Flan

Frozen Caramel Pie with a Secret Ingredient