“When peaches land in the markets, we all go bananas and The Merry Dairy kitchen has a giant peach party. It’s peach iced tea, peach pops, peach sauce, peach pie . . . and of course, peach ice cream. We don’t peel our peaches: the skins add flavour and colour. This ice cream classic is Ontario summer, frozen in time.” – Great Scoops: Recipes from a Neighborhood Ice Cream Shop by Marlene Haley and Amelia Ryan of The Merry Dairy with Anne DesBrisay, Figure 1 Publishing
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Ontario Peach Ice Cream
Servings 1 quart
Ingredients
Macerated Peaches
- 2 ripe peaches unpeeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
- 2 Tbsp (30 ml) fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
Peach Ice Cream
- 1 cup (236 ml) whole milk
- 1/2 cup (118 ml) reserved peach juice from Macerated Peaches (see here)
- 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 5 (90 g) large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup (100 g) Macerated Peaches (see here)
Instructions
Macerated Peaches
- Place peaches in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- In a small bowl, combine peaches, sugar and lemon juice. Cover the bowl and set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature, stirring occasionally. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing down on the peaches with a stiff rubber spatula to extract as much juice as possible. Set juice aside for ice cream base.
- Transfer remaining peach solids to a container and refrigerate until you are ready to make the ice cream.
- Peach solids and juices can be stored separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Peach Ice Cream
- Prepare an ice bath
- In a medium-sized saucepan, combine cream, milk, peach juice, sugar and salt. Stir over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until steam begins to rise from the surface. Remove from heat.
- While the dairy is warming, whisk the egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl. To temper the yolks, slowly pour 1 cup of the heated cream mixture into the yolks while whisking vigorously. Continue adding heated cream and whisking until about half of the hot cream has been added. Transfer the yolk mixture to the pan.
- Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring continuously with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spatula or a digital thermometer reads 180°F (about 5–6 minutes). Immediately remove from heat and strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into the inner bowl of the prepared ice bath.
- Cool the custard in the ice bath until room temperature, stirring occasionally. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Place storage container in the freezer to chill. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions until ice cream is thick and creamy and has increased in volume by about a third.
- Once churned, add in macerated peaches and churn for a further 30 seconds until incorporated.
- Enjoy immediately or freeze 2 hours in chilled storage container for a firmer scoop.