Strawberries

Friday was strawberry day. We girls and Mom picked eighty pounds of berries at a farm near Bay City. We spent the rest of the day preserving the fruit. We stashed thirty-five quarts of berries in the freezer. We saved some of the berries to eat fresh, but smashed the rest to make fifty-seven half-pints of strawberry jam. In the evening we rewarded ourselves with bowls of homemade vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries. 

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream 

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups sugar

6 cups whole milk

4 cups cream

3 tablespoons vanilla

20 lbs. ice cubes

coarse salt

Beat eggs in a medium sauce pan. Add sugar and 3 cups of the milk. Place sauce pan on medium heat and stir constantly until mixture reaches 165F. Remove from heat. Add remaining milk, cream and vanilla. Store mixture in the refrigerator until ready to freeze.

Using a 1 gallon ice cream maker, freeze ice cream according to manufacture's instructions. For a traditional, crank-style ice cream freezer, pour ice cream mixture in the inner canister and insert paddle. Position canister inside ice cream freezer and secure crank. Layer 1 inch of ice between canister and freezer. Sprinkle liberally with salt. Repeat until ice/salt reaches the top of the freezer. Crank, adding more ice and salt, until ice cream becomes stiff, about forty-five minutes. Remove paddle. Serve.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer.