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Peach Ice (Same as strawberry using)
The same as strawberry, using a little more peach pulp and less lemon juice; it may be colored a pale pink.
This is a variation entry, not a standalone formula: everything depends on the strawberry ice printed alongside it in the same section. Read that one first, then adjust as directed here.
- It is a water ice, not ice creamIt is almost certainly a water ice rather than an ice cream -- fruit pulp, sugar syrup, water and a little acid, frozen without dairy. Expect a firm, granular sorbet rather than anything creamy, and do not be tempted to add milk or egg. Check the strawberry formula it refers to before assuming.
- "A little more pulp, less lemon juice"Peaches are generally lower in acid than strawberries, so the balance shifts. Work from the strawberry base and taste the unfrozen mix cold, since freezing mutes both sweetness and acidity noticeably.
- Peach pulpBlanch ripe freestones for thirty seconds, slip the skins, stone them and sieve or blitz. Skins left in give a fibrous ice; underripe fruit gives almost no flavour at all once frozen.
- BrowningCutting the lemon juice is what the original asks for, but it also removes the thing that keeps peach flesh from oxidising to a dull tan. Work quickly, keep the pulp covered, and hold it cold until it goes into the freezer.
- Sugar is structuralIn a water ice the syrup does the work of fat, keeping the texture soft. Reducing sugar to suit modern taste will give you a block of flavoured ice; if the mix seems too sweet, correct with acid rather than by cutting the syrup.
- The pale pinkPeach pulp freezes to a dull beige, which may be why colouring is offered as an option. Colourings then available to the trade included cochineal and coal-tar dyes; a drop of modern food colouring in the syrup does the same job.
- FreezingAn ice of this date would have been frozen in a can packed with ice and rock salt. An ice cream machine works directly; without one, freeze in a shallow tray and rake with a fork every thirty minutes until set.
- Yield and serviceNo quantity is given here because it inherits the strawberry batch. Reckon roughly six to eight portions to the quart as a plain ice.
Water ices were long a fountain staple: cheap to make from whatever fruit was in season, stable in the ice-packed cabinet, and sold by the glass alone or drowned in carbonated water. Peaches suited the trade particularly well in the United States, where the summer crop was abundant and cheap, though their flesh is pale and their flavour fades under sugar and cold, hence the two corrections given here, more pulp and a cosmetic tint. The instruction to colour the ice pink is a reminder that fountain work was as much display as flavour.