This summer has been really hot. Although we don't have it as rough as the folk on the East Coast, we've felt it here, too.
I gauge the temperature by how empty the soda and ice cream shelves are at the grocery store. And this year, even the large food stores are struggling to keep those products on the shelves.
For help, I turned to an avid sportsperson and asked how she solves the heat problem; she replied, "Flying Ice Cream!"
Now I've heard of flying fish in the Northwest, but never "flying ice cream," so I had to ask for an explanation because this sounded just too much fun to miss.
A quicker way to a good thing
"Well," she said, "to understand how it works, you have to understand how ice cream is made."
She explained that in the days of the founding fathers (and founding mothers), anyone wanting ice cream had to put a mixture of cream, eggs and fruit into a small bowl, set it into a larger bowl filled with ice and then spin the outer bowl.
A second person had to scrape the ice cream from the inside edge of the smaller bowl as it formed.
After a lot of work and more than an hour of time, one had ice cream.
What a ton of work! But folks did it, because what tastes better on a hot day than ice cream?
By 1843, Nancy Johnson had had enough of all this spinning and scraping, and she invented the crank-turned ice cream machine. The addition of a handle attached to small gears turned a dasher inside a canister containing the ice cream mix. All this made everything easier.
But the bucket, ice and canister were heavy to carry, and someone was still required to set and turn the handle.
Flying Ice Cream?
Enter Flying Ice Cream.
My friend puts her ice cream mix into a small zipper-lock bag, seals it and then places the smaller bag into a larger zipper-lock bag filled with ice and salt. She closes the larger bag and then the fun begins.
She throws the bag around in a game of catch with friends and family for about 30 minutes, and suddenly, you've got ice cream!
Open the bag, and eat it right there, out of the bag.
When you're finished, everything can go neatly into the trashcan.
So let 'em fly and beat the heat in a new way that's so neat!
Ana Kinkaid, a Green Lake resident and culinary historian, would love to hear your comments at ilovetocookbut @hotmail.com.
Flying Ice Cream
(single-serving recipe)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups crushed ice
4 tablespoons salt (rock or table)
2 quart-size zipper-lock bags (freezer-weight bags are best)
1 gallon-size zipper-lock bag (freezer weight bags are best)
Plastic spoon
Mix the milk, vanilla and sugar together in one of the quart bags. Seal completely, removing as much air as possible from the bag before closing.
Place the filled quart bag inside the remaining quart bag, removing as much air as possible and seal.
Put the double-bagged ice cream mixture bag inside the gallon bag. Fill with ice, ending with the salt on the top. Remove as much air as possible, and seal the bag.
Toss the bag around for 5 to 8 minutes, checking to see that ice is surrounding the mixture evenly.
Open and throw the gallon bag away. Open the quart bag, and enjoy your ice cream.[[In-content Ad]]
