Banana Ice Cream

A raw, uncooked ice cream in the old American style: no custard base, just fruit, cream, sugar and acid, frozen in a hand-cranked churn. It works well in a modern machine with a few adjustments.

• The creamThe recipe says only "cream," and books of this period distinguished thin from heavy cream, so the intended fat content is uncertain; it may have been nearer 18-20% than modern heavy cream. A quart of straight heavy cream freezes very dense and rich; half heavy cream and half whole milk gives a texture closer to what most people expect today.
• Scraping the bananasScraping is presumably meant to take off the fibrous strands and the astringent layer that clings to the flesh under the peel, with the sieve catching whatever is left. A food processor will not separate the fibres, so sieve after pureeing if you use one.
• RipenessUse bananas that are heavily freckled but not black. Underripe fruit is starchy and tastes chalky when frozen; four medium bananas yield about 1 1/2 cups of pulp.
• The lemon juice1 1/3 tablespoons is an odd figure; call it 4 teaspoons. It is there to stop the puree browning and to cut the sweetness, not to make the mixture taste of lemon. Add it to the pulp before the cream so it goes to work immediately.
• SugarDissolve the cup of sugar fully in the banana puree before adding the cream, or it will settle and grind. Sugar also keeps the finished ice cream scoopable, so do not reduce it much below three-quarters of a cup.
• FreezingThe original assumes a bucket freezer packed with cracked ice and rock salt, about three parts ice to one part salt, cranked until the dasher stiffens. In a modern machine, chill the mix thoroughly first and churn 20-30 minutes, then firm it in the freezer for two hours.
• Yield and keepingAbout 1 1/2 quarts, serving eight to ten. Banana ice cream darkens and turns muddy in flavour after a couple of days, so it is best eaten the day it is made.