Hand-Cranked Georgia Peach Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 3 pounds very ripe peaches
• 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Crushed ice and rock salt for the freezer

Before you cook

• Peel the peaches by dipping them in boiling water for 30 seconds and slipping off the skins.
• Cut the peaches off the pits and chop them.
• Separate the egg yolks into a medium bowl.
• Set a fine sieve over a large bowl and rest that bowl in a larger bowl of ice water.

Steps

1. Toss the chopped peaches with half a cup of the sugar and the lemon juice and refrigerate them for one hour.
2. Mash the macerated peaches with a potato masher until they are half crushed and half chunky.
3. Stir in the remaining half cup of sugar and return the fruit to the refrigerator.
4. Heat the milk, cream, three-quarter cup of sugar, and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until steaming and the sugar dissolves.
5. Whisk about a cup of the hot cream into the egg yolks in a thin stream.
6. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan, whisking.
7. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon and holds a line when you draw a finger through it, about 8 minutes.
8. Pour the custard immediately through the sieve into the waiting bowl.
9. Stir in the vanilla and stir the custard over the ice water until it is cold.
10. Cover the custard and chill it for at least four hours or overnight.
11. Pour the cold custard into the canister of a hand-crank or electric ice cream freezer, filling it no more than two-thirds full.
12. Pack the bucket with alternating layers of crushed ice and rock salt, using about one cup of salt for every six cups of ice.
13. Crank steadily for 20 to 30 minutes, until the handle becomes hard to turn and the ice cream is the texture of soft-serve.
14. Open the canister, fold in the crushed peaches with a long spoon, and work quickly.
15. Pack the ice cream into a chilled container, press parchment onto the surface, and freeze it for at least three hours to ripen before scooping.