HOMEMADE ICE CREAM: Summer is creeping ever closer and with it warm days and muggy nights. Need a couple of favorite snacks to beat back to the heat? Well, few things beat a slab of cool, juicy watermelon. YUM. I have plenty of memories of my father eating massive chunks of watermelon when I was a kid. I never really found myself to be a watermelon fan back then (my loss), I think I didn’t like having to navigate through all the seeds. But as an adult I have found that Dad was right, the cool relief of a juicy watermelon is worth the seediness. And, besides, they do have seedless watermelons these days.
PHOTO CAPTIONS: A watermelon grows on an Amish farm in Flat Rock, illinois….Gloria Yoder holds a bowl of some of her homemade ice cream on a searing hot summer day in Flat Rock, Illinois.
The other obvious candidate for a cool treat on a hot summer’s day: ice cream. Another child memory of mine was going to my Uncle’s house to make homemade ice cream. But it was an awful lot of trouble. He had some sort of electrical churn and had to use what seemed like a ton of salt. It seemed like a lot of work for the end product, but we still enjoyed it. Still, not something you can just whip up on a moment’s notice. This is where “Schlick and Quick Strawberry Ice Cream” comes in. Shlick is a Pennsylvania Dutch term for “simple” or “easy,” and this refreshing dessert is an amazing antidote to the heat. This unpreserved homemade ice cream will melt faster than commercially bought brands and does not require an ice cream maker—just stir and freeze . This recipe calls for a product called Clear-Jel, which acts as a thickening agent. Clear-Jel can be purchased in most bulk food and baking stores. It is a very popular baking and canning ingredient among Amish cooks, but cornstarch could be used in a pinch. I like this recipe because you just dump, mix, and plop it in the freezer. Wow, this was a delicious ice cream.
- SHLICK AND QUICK STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM
- Serves 6
- Shlick is a Pennsylvania Dutch term for “simple” or “easy,” and on a scorching summer day in Flat Rock, Illinois, this refreshing dessert is an amazing antidote to the heat. This unpreserved homemade ice cream will melt faster than commercially bought brands and does not require an ice cream maker—just stir and freeze . This recipe calls for a product called Clear-Jel, which acts as a thickening agent. Clear-Jel can be purchased in most bulk food and baking stores. It is a very popular baking and canning ingredient among Amish cooks.
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup instant Clear Jel
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 to 3 cups heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 quart frozen, chopped strawberries
- 3 cups of whole milk
- Stir the sugars, Clear Jel, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the cream, and stir vigorously. Add vanilla, strawberries, and milk and mix well. Transfer to a freezer safe container, seal tightly, and freeze until firm.
3 Comments
lorraine stoddard
The picture of the ice cream looked delicious!
My family and I tried seedless watermelon once. None of us liked it.
Buddy Samuels
Hey, Kevin—–with 100 degree weather here in Texas, ice cream certainly sounds good. A quick question—I will need to use cornstarch in the recipe. Same amount of cornstarch as clear jel?
Kevin
Buddy, that is a mystery…I wish I could give you a 100 percent ironclad answer…I THINK it is an even swap in amounts, but I am not sure…I have not tried it with c-starch…let me know if you do try!