Aunt Betty's Ice Cream

July 1, 2004

In the past few years I have done a lot of family history research. Some branches of the family I have managed to trace back to the 1600s. Others lead to the inevitable brick wall. Every so often a new living "cousin‚" pops out of the woodwork and we have a grand time exchanging photographs of our forebears and filling in details on each other's family trees.

However, at the end of the day, I have only six first cousins and the link with them is very close because, apart from one, we were in regular touch when we were growing up.

You cannot deny family ties. When you share grandparents, the links are very close and this was brought home to me at the weekend when one of my first cousins, Dale, was visiting Wellington and came round for dinner. Her mother and my father were sister and brother and we spent a lot of time together when we were children. Her parents had a farm and I spent many happy holidays there.

In the early days there was a long-drop toilet outside. Later a "real toilet‚" was installed inside.

There was an orchard next to the house and I remember us gathering unripe fruit and taking it down to the hayshed where we would climb up into the sweet smelling hay and try to find the sweet bits on the peaches, nectarines, plums and greengages. My memories of Christmas holidays at the farm are a mix of bellyaches from the green fruit and hives from the radishes and first strawberries. I still have vivid recall of being smothered in calamine lotion and nights of excruciating stomach cramps.

The nearest township was several miles away but occasionally we would go there so my aunt could lay in grocery supplies, or we would have a night out at the local movie house.

One of my favourite places was the dairy factory where the milk from my uncle's cows would end up. I have never again encountered such wonderful cheese - it had a real mouth grabbing sharpness that today's extra-aged mature cheese cannot match. My Aunt Betty would make berry jam and my idea of heaven was a slab of gum-tingling cheese on a doorstep of bread and butter, the top slathered with fresh jam. Coming a close second were the fried leftover potatoes topped with an egg for breakfast.

Another highlight of the farm visits was the great cache of comics Dale's brother Peter had. Batman, Superman, Archie, Disney comics… After my usual diet of Enid Blyton's boarding school tales and girls' annuals, this was pure escapism.

I guess the cousins have their own memories of their stays with my family on assorted air force bases around the country but those farm holidays were very special to me.

My aunt had a fridge with a reasonably generous ice block compartment for its time and with plenty of fresh milk and cream at her disposal, she used to make her own ice cream.

It just happened to be fortuitous that when Dale visited, I had just made a batch of Betty's ice cream for guests earlier in the week so we enjoyed the remainder for dessert with some poached tamarillos.

This ice cream has to be one of the easiest around and my recently acquired ice cream maker turned out a super smooth batch that took us back through the years.

I made one concession to the present time - I added some pomegranate molasses to cut down the sweetness.

Pomegranate molasses is a sour syrupy ingredient from the Middle East. I get my supplies from my Mediterranean warehouse. It can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes - spread some on lamb chops before grilling, finish off a sauce for duck, use it in salad dressings. I have seen it described as the "new balsamic vinegar‚".

Here, then, is:

Aunt Betty's Ice Cream 2004

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can milk
1 can cream
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Chill all the ingredients for 2-3 hours.

Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk into a jug. Refill the can with the milk and pour into the jug. Do the same with the cream. Add the pomegranate molasses. Mix well, adding the vanilla extract.

Set the ice cream maker going then add the jug of ingredients and churn until ready. Place in a suitable plastic container, such as an ice cream carton, and freeze. Before serving, allow to soften a little in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, or on the bench for 10 minutes.

Serve with fresh or poached fruit and sprinkle with toasted almonds or decorate with chocolate curls.