It's the Cherries! George Washington Ice Cream.

Easy to make. Delicious to eat. I'm not telling a lie!

During the 1920s soda shop trade magazines encouraged fountain men (and women) to bring customers into their stores by creating new sundaes, sodas, and even ice creams to take advantage of holidays and other special occasions. Today, these rediscovered Prohibition-Era tasty delights will attract a crowd in your kitchen.

Making ice cream isn't hard. New machines come with chill-in-your-freezer cores eliminating the need for ice and salt. Plugged in, they even churn the ice cream all by themselves.  No hand cranking.  Of course if you have a hand-crank machine, it will do just fine. No machine?  Freeze the mix in a metal bowl, bringing it out and beating with an electric mixer a couple of times before it completely hardens.

However you make it, this ice cream is wonderfully creamy and flavorful! Sealed in a screw-top plastic container it will keep for a couple of weeks. . . if you can keep your spoons out of it.

George Washington Ice Cream

1 1/2 teaspoons powdered unflavored gelatin (Knox brand)
1/4 cup cold water
1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries
1 1/2 cups milk, approximately
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cups cherry juice, bottled or frozen
1 1/2 cups half-and-half

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let it stand until softened. Drain the maraschino cherries, putting the juice into a glass 2-cup measuring cup. Coarsely chop the cherries and set aside. Add milk to the maraschino cherry juice to make 2 cups. Place the juice and milk mixture into a medium saucepan and add the sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring from time to time, until the sugar has dissolved. remove from heat and stir in the softened gelatin. add the remaining cherry juice and half-and-half, and then stir in the chopped cherries. Chill the mixture and then freeze following the directions of your ice cream mixer. It will come out of the machine as as "soft serve" mixture. Spoon into containers with tight-fitting lids and store in the freezer for an hour or two until it fully hardens.


Copyright 2013 Rae Katherine Eighmey from Soda Shop Salvation: Recipes and Stories from the Sweeter Side of Prohibition. Published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.