stuart james beall

Everybody and their dog has probably made or tasted backyard peach ice cream in the fall, from the old-fashioned four or five quart pail. You would pack it in ice cubes and rock salt, and take turns manually cranking the paddle or plug in a small electric churn motor. Using fresh juicy peaches and a bit of lemon juice in the recipe put me on the other side of paradise.

I was thinking about this and wondered how it would turn out with nectarines instead of peaches. So here goes.

Not every nectarine tree produces the exact same size of fruit. And not every grocery store sells the exact same sizes of fruit. So the photo above gives you an idea of what size fruit I’m working with. These nectarines are huge, and firm. Not mushy. I peeled four, and diced the fruit into small morsels. I stirred in a cup of brown sugar, and the juice of one lemon.

I’m using a Whynter Ice Cream maker, which doesn’t use ice cubes or rock salt. It has its own freezer compressor.

Some people like to scald their fruit in boiling water, to help remove the skin. I don’t do that. I use a paring knife for peeling, and a Santoku knife for slicing and chopping.

When I started measuring the milk and cream, I realized there was too much fruit for one batch in my Whynter Ice Cream pail. I would have to split it. I let the fruit chill in the refrigerator as everything else was gathered.

Here is my recipe for 1 batch:

• Heavy Whipping Cream ~ 2 Cups.

• Whole milk ~ 1 Cup.
• Brown sugar ~ 1 + 1/2 Cup.
• Vanilla extract ~ 1 teaspoon.
• Nectarines ~ 2 large.
• Lemon juice ~ 3 Tablespoons.
• Sea salt ~ 1/4 teaspoon.

Peel and chop the nectarine fruit, then stir in 1 Cup of brown sugar and the lemon juice. Chill this mixture in the refrigerator for about 90 minutes.

Measure 1/2 Cup of brown sugar, with the remaining ingredients into the Whynter pail. Let it churn for about 10 minutes before adding the chilled fruit.

Continue churning until the paddle stalls. Remove the paddle, and scrape it with a rubber spatula. Pack the ice cream into a freezer-safe container, and store in your freezer.