Summer Peach Ice Cream

We're nowhere near having ripe peaches yet, but I saved a portion of last year's bumper crop especially for ice cream making. To do that, I puréed a quart of super-ripe peaches in the Cuisinart and put them in the basement freezer until we wanted them.

Turns out that since we stuffed our faces with peach pie and chutney and jam all year, we never ended up making the peach ice cream, and the puree just sat in the freezer all winter long. Now that summer is officially here, this is a perfect post-solstice treat.

Summer Peach Ice Cream

2 cups milk

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups half and half

4 cups heavy cream

4 cups peach purée

juice of half a lemon

Scald the milk until bubbles form around the edges, then remove from heat. Stir in the sugar and salt until they dissolve, then add vanilla, half and half, and heavy cream. Stir well and chill for 30 minutes. Stir the juice of one lemon into the pureed peaches (unless you already did this before you froze it, which would also help preserve their color, but isn't a requirement) and blend thoroughly before adding to the ice cream maker. Makes about 1 gallon.