If you are in the South like we are, you know summer is hot and humid. One of the best ways to cool off is with ice cream. Specifically, a Summer Homemade Ice Cream Recipe.

Yes, homemade ice cream used to be the highlight of many summer eatings, campings, swimmings, and working days. It is hard to come by real, homemade ice cream these days. The big stores make ice cream in huge batches with who knows what in them. The quality and artistry of homemade ice cream have been lost for the newer generations. But you can make your own homemade ice cream and enjoy a natural, healthier, snack.

There are a couple of things you need to know about Summer Homemade Ice Cream.

First, it does not have to be hard to make.

You can buy an electric ice cream maker at many stores. They are small and portable, in case you are having a cookout or day at the lake. These electric ice cream makers come with instructions and a recipe book to make it easier for you to make your own Summer Homemade Ice Cream. As long as you can plug it into an outlet or an extension cord, you are good to go.

The old fashion ice cream maker that Popi uses is a hand crank machine. Yes, that is exactly what it sounds like. Someone, mostly Popi, has to stand there and crank it by hand until the ice cream is ready. A hand-turned ice cream maker is a great hand and arm exercise. Better than the gym and when you are done you get ice cream. Or does it kind of defeat the purpose of exercise?

The old-fashioned, hand-turn machines can be hard to find these days. If the electricity is out, or if you are at a place where you can not hook up to electricity, ice cream can still be made by hand. Although, if the electricity is out or the Zombie Apocalypse has come, not sure you really need ice cream. But who knows, maybe ice cream would be the best thing to have at a time like that.

Second, It does not have to be made with a long list of ingredients, some of which you can not pronounce.

You can make homemade ice cream with only a few ingredients and with an ice cream machine.  The number of ingredients actually required for ice cream is surprisingly few. The recipe we are sharing with you today has only seven ingredients.

There are any number of flavor and ingredient combinations you can use to make your ice cream extra fancy, flavorful, or decedent. But the basic ingredients are very simple.

Third, Summer Homemade Ice Cream is healthier for you and has a better flavor than store-bought. If made with real fruit, fresh milk, and natural ingredients, it is better for you than that store-bought, processed stuff.

Do not get us wrong, we love ice cream but homemade is so much better.

Fourth, you can make it exactly to your liking.

You can make it whatever texture you want. Chunky fruit or smooth, chocolate, peanuts, anything you want can be added to your homemade ice cream as it is being made. If you like soft serve or hard, you can make it that way.

That is one of the many joys of homemade and DIY, it can be made to be just what you want it to be.

Here we have our basic recipe for Summer Homemade Ice Cream.

You will need:

an ice cream maker

ice

rock salt

3 cups of peaches

2 cans of Evaporated Milk

1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

milk or heavy whipping cream

3 cups sugar

1 Pinch of table salt

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

Again, you can add any kind of fruit, flavoring, herbs, spices, honey, candy, or whatever you want your ice cream to be.

If you want to go with no dairy, you can substitute the milk for non-dairy options. We have never tried this so we can not say just how good that is. But it can be done.

We used peaches for our Summer Homemade Ice Cream. This is a family favorite. There was always a bucket of peach ice cream as family fish frying, church eat-outs, and family get-togethers.

We just start off mixing the ingredients in the ice cream maker bucket so there are no extra dishes to clean up after.  You could, of course, use a mixer or blender if you like.

1. Put the peaches in the ice cream maker bucket.

You can put the fruit in the blender to get a smooth texture.

If you like chunky fruit in your ice cream, blend it a bit less and keep the fruit in bigger pieces.

2. Add the milk, vanilla, Evaporated Milk, Condensed Milk, and heavy whipping cream. Mix a bit.

3. Add the sugar and salt. Give it a good mix.

Be sure you get it mixed well or you will get pockets of salty ice cream. That can ruin a perfectly good bowl of ice cream.

4. Put the center paddle in the ice cream maker bucket.

The ingredients should make enough mix to come up to the top of the turning paddle. If your mix is not the right consistency, add a bit more milk.

5. Secure the ice cream bucket top.

Be sure it is on correctly and firmly or you will have a mess when you start the hand turning or the electric machine.

6. Put the center bucket into the outer bucket. And secure the crank to the top.

This is the usual construction of ice cream makers, one outside bucket to hold the ice, salt, and an inner bucket. The inside bucket has the ice cream ingredients in it. Do not get that mixed up, you do not want rock salt in your ice cream.

7. Add the ice to the empty space between the two buckets.

8. Add the rock salt along with the ice.

You should mix the ice and salt a bit for a good freeze.

9. Then just crank away if you have the old-fashioned hand crank. Or turn the electric machine on.

Whichever way you choose to go at it, the process is similar. The hand crank and the electric machine will mix, blend, and freeze the ingredients into ice cream.

If the ice melts, you may need to add more ice and salt. This does depend on how hot a day it is and how hard you want your ice cream when you are done.

The longer you go the harder the ice cream will be when you are done. Of course, remember there are no preservatives in this ice cream, so it will melt quickly when you take it out of the ice bucket.

10. Be sure to get all the goodie off the paddle inside the bucket.

11. Scoop your newly made and hopefully frozen ice cream out of the ice cream bucket into a storage container.

Do not leave the ice cream in the bucket unless you are eating it right away. We generally do not have much left to store.

12. Put your new homemade ice cream in the freezer or eat it right away.

13. Clean up the ice cream maker buckets.

Do not leave them with old ice cream, salt, or ice water in them. The center bucket may rust and then it will be no use.

The more modern ice cream makers may be made mostly of plastic but they still need to be cleaned up. Saltwater can eat away at the plastic as well. It may take longer but salt can destroy just about anything with time.

There you have hand-turned homemade ice cream made by Popi with the help of Ducky the choc lab and Jasper the kitten. It is good to have the proper amount of “Sage Advise” and clean-up help.

This is just the basic Peach ice cream that we use to make our Summer Homemade Ice Cream Recipe. You can use whatever ingredients you like, more of one, less of another, to get your homemade ice cream like you like it.

We hope you have enjoyed this Summer Homemade Ice Cream Recipe. If you have never had homemade ice cream or made your own, give it a try. You will be surprised that you can make better ice cream at home. And it can be quick and easy to do.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.