With peach season in full swing in the Low country, my mind is churning with recipe ideas. The churning lead me to a Peach Cobbler which was pure heaven last week. This was quickly followed by Peach Ice Cream. So, armed with my new ice cream maker and a little knowledge/experience, I set out to make the perfect Peach Ice Cream. What I got instead was a creamy concoction studded with frozen peach puree that would send the toughest of ice cream chewers to the dentist thrashing in pain. Those that survived the tooth freeze would find themselves rushing to the store to buy toothpicks.

In spite of my good intentions and limited wisdom, this was one of those mornings when I proceeded with a recipe and the process of ice cream making- ignoring my better judgement. That my friends was a recipe for disaster. The first error occurred when I filled my ice cream maker to the top. Now I know enough that when ice cream is churned it will expand. I also know that if it doesn’t have a place to expand it will overflow. Even with this knowledge at my finger tips, I chose to fill the maker to the top. This was cleary the cooks error, the following errors were those of the cookbook author which will go un-named.

I had a big, I mean big mess to clean-up. Half way in the process I had to stop the churning as my repeated attempts to catch the overflow failed. I scooped out a rather large quantity reserving it for the second batch in order for proper expansion to occur. I turn the machine back on, knowing that I am minutes away from a creamy delight- chock full of freshly picked peaches to add to the pleasure.

While I am waiting for the ice cream to freeze, I start thinking about the recipe I chose to follow in spite of my better judgement. Really, how could I possibly know better than a well-known cookbook author and TV personality? Frankly, that is a good question. Or a better question is, do cookbook authors really test all of their recipes. Because if they did, they would have the occasion to discover some mighty big flaws.

Now I know what you are thinking, I read the recipe wrong, or I messed up. But this was one of those times, when I knew the recipe was flawed from the beginning and I went ahead anyway.

So here is what I see as the serious errors and the ultimate demise of my beloved Peach Ice Cream that was doomed from the start.

• The recipe did not call for any sugar. Huh, did I read it right? Yep, no sugar with a quart of heavy cream, ginger and peaches. My peaches are sweet, but clearly not sweet enough. Oh, well …………..knows best.
• Puree half the peaches and add to the cream mixture before freezing in the maker. Aren’t the peaches going to absorb a lot of liquid and become crystallized and frozen rather than luscious? Shouldn’t I gently fold this into the mixture when the ice cream is done or almost done?
• Here is the kicker of all errors- Add 4 cups of diced peaches to the cream mixture and freeze in maker. Shouldn’t and I mean shouldn’t I do this at the end? Isn’t the paddle of the maker going to beat the peaches into something I don’t want to sink my teeth into?

This recipe so needed sugar and it was unrealistic expecting the peaches to be enough of a natural sweetener. Of course the peach puree gathered crystals and moisture which gave the ice cream a frozen icy texture rather than a creamy texture. Sort of Italian ice meets creamy ice cream with not a lot of flavor.

Here is where the ice cream was destined for the garbage disposal. Instead of an ice cream with nice chunks of fresh peaches, the churn whipped my peaches into shreds. Shredded ice cream is the pits. In fact of all kitchen screw-ups I have ever had, this takes the cake as there is nothing worse than frozen shreds.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t fix this. I kicked myself from one end of the kitchen to the other, knowing that my better judgement said- to not add the peaches till the ice cream was frozen gently folding them in before serving.

Here is why frozen shreds are so horrible. If I chose to serve the husband a bowl of ice cream it would have to come with a few toothpicks so that he could get the stringy frozen peach shreds out of his teeth. I know this for sure as I took 3 bites of the ice cream and franticly searched for a toothpick. This is a killer, as I don’t have toothpicks in the house. If I did they would be used for holding something together, not picking at your teeth. Though in my desperation, I considered doing something not very lady like, as in picking my teeth with a toothpick.

I grew up on Emily Post, yes manners were a virtue in my day and age, my mom taught me well. I searched high and low and can’t find out how she would handle this problem and if indeed toothpicks would be okay in case of an emergency, such as ice cream with peach shreds.

Three cups of peach shreds and down the garbage disposal it went. I know the picture doesn’t show the shreds, that is because I attempted my first food cover-up. The food walk of shame is tough, I debated even sharing this disaster. Ultimately, I owe it to my readers to share the good the bad and the horrible.

Please note that David’s vanilla ice cream is a winner. This is not the recipe I used. It will be the recipe I use when I attempt to make Peach Ice Cream again. The only good thing in the recipe I used was the addition of ginger, it was a nice addition to the peaches.

Peach Ice Cream

Adapted from David Lebovitz’s Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

6 pounds peaches, peeled and chopped (10 cups)

3 cups of heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

1 vanilla bean split in half lengthwise

pinch of salt

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon ground ginger

• Place half of the peaches and puree them.
• Pour one cup of the cream into a medium saucepan, add sugar and salt.
• Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the saucepan and add the pod to the pot.
• Warm over medium heat till the sugar is dissolved.
• Off the heat add the remaining 2 cups of cream and vanilla extract.
• Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.
• When ready to put into the ice cream maker, remove the pod.
• Freeze according to maker directions.
• When churned and nice and thick fold in the peach puree then remaining peache chunks.
• Chill for at least 3 hours before serving.

I don’t think you can get a good vanilla ice cream flavor without using a vanilla bean. I liked the addition of the ginger with this recipe, just a hint of it to accent the peaches.