Happy Peach Ice Cream Day!

Peach Ice Cream Day is a pretty specific holiday, but I guess it is a combo of two things at their peak -- peaches are so seasonal and have only a short window of enjoyment each year, and ice cream, while popular year round, certainly shines in the summer when it's hot out. It seems only natural that they be combined into a holiday.

In the past we've posted peach ice cream recipes (or failed to in some cases -- sorry!), but I started wondering where we can get packaged peach ice cream...I started searching some of our favorite brands...here's just a sampling...

• Ben & Jerry's: Nope. This flavor is now in the flavor graveyard. But you can find a recipe for it in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book (Stay tuned! We'll be having a giveaway this month for a copy of that book!)
• Turkey Hill: Yep, they have a seasonal Peaches 'N Cream which seems to be available June through September!
• Breyer's: Yep. From their site: "Real juicy peach pieces mixed into creamy vanilla."
• Haagen-Daz: No.
• Edy's: Edy's has a slow churned yogurt blend in peach. Does this count for Peach Ice Cream Day? Is it a blend of yogurt and ice cream?
• Ciao Bella: Peaches 'N Cream. Not in cartons. Only in retail locations. Bummer. 
• Friendly's: Nope.
• Perry's: Can't connect to their ste. Bummer.
• Schwan's: Looks like they have a fro yo. Hard to do a search.

Hope this gets you started and gives you a jumping off point for celebrating the holiday!

Happy National Peach Ice Cream Day

Ah Peaches, a fresh taste of summer that is short and sweet so what better way then to celebrate than to make ice cream with them and to declare it a national holiday. Who comes up with these holidays anyways?!

I did try to find out the background of National Peach Ice Cream Day but its all rather elusive so really I have no good answer for you. I did find out about the peach was brought to America in the 16th century (maybe on July 17th?!) by explorers from Spain. Then finally in the 1800s The States started commercially cultivating them into what is today the country's second biggest fruit crop. Never knew we had so many peaches.

So now that this history lesson is done we are happy to share with you a yummy recipe from allrecipes. I am a big fan of this site. I love how its become such a community and I totally rely on reviews for my recipes and for how to make adjustments. Here are a couple I thought would be helpful as you tackle this recipe.

"We have made a similar recipe to this for years and years. It is without a doubt the best ice cream recipe there is..."

"VERY EASY and delicious! i halved the recipe and cut down on the sugar by quite a bit, as suggested by other reviewers. it was the best peach ice cream we've ever eaten!"

"I took a tip from another reviewer and subbed almond extract. I added some freshly ground nutmeg and saved some peach slices to add to the mixture at the very end so that there were some chunks to give it more texture. So good!"


Peach Ice Cream
6 eggs, beaten
3 1/2 cups white sugar
10 fresh peaches, pitted and chopped
4 cups heavy cream
2 cups half-and-half cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

In large bowl, mix together eggs and sugar until smooth; puree peaches in blender or food processor and stir 5 cups of puree into egg mixture. Stir in cream, half-and-half, vanilla and salt and mix well.

Pour mixture into freezer canister of ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]