The flat of Springdell strawberries on my counter has been a reminder that the 40th Annual Strawberry Festival is only a week away. As chair of the festival, this is big, exciting, and nerve wracking news. There are many tasks that can whip one into a frenzy. I have to keep calm and get back into the spirit of things. What better way to get into the spirit of the festival than to spend some time with the fruit from which the festival received it’s namesake?
Come Saturday, we’ll be in the presence of over 500 quarts of strawberries on the Westford Town Common, at least 180 of which will be from Springdell. Today, I’m happy with the six quarts I have to work with.
Today, the boys were with my mother and Nan, my other half was off for dinner with friends, and I was happy with some simple leftovers and a Springdell salad. With no dinner to cook, and many strawberries to work with, I decided to whip up some dessert.
I mashed up almost 4 cups of washed and hulled strawberries. Half of these strawberries were destined for the ice cream maker.
Here the strawberries are joined by 2 cups of milk, 2 cups of heavy cream, and 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, and 2 tsp vanilla.
After following my ice cream maker’s instructions, this happened.
Delicious fresh strawberry ice cream!
But what if you don’t have an ice cream maker? Fear not, there are ways that you can fake it if you have a blender or food processor! This is where the other 2 cups of strawberries come in. After hulling and washing them, they can be frozen in a single layer on a cookie sheet covered in parchment or other flat surface. This will prevent them from sticking together in a freezer bag.
I took 2 cups of the frozen strawberries and added them to my food processor with a cup of cream and about 1/4 cup of sugar and about a teaspoon of vanilla. I blended things until this happened.
The blender process is much faster, and deviates from the traditionally made ice cream in consistency (it is a little softer, and a little grittier from the sugar). Whichever way you make it, I hope you enjoy this sweet treat!
