[1] Churn your own: luscious homemade peach ice cream (photo © Dovile Ramoskaite | Unsplash).

[2] Graeter’s makes a limited-edition peach ice cream each summer. Grab it while you can (photo © Graeter’s).

[3] Even McConnell’s has discontinued its peach flavor (photo © McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams).

[4] No ice cream maker? Here’s a recipe for no-churn peach ice cream (photo © Bourbon And Honey).

[5] The riper the peaches, the better. When peaches seem to be overripe, they may be just right to puree for ice cream (photo © Good Eggs).

[6] Häagen-Dazs discontinued its peach ice cream (above), but now makes peach sorbetto (photo © Häagen-Dazs).

July 17th is National Peach Ice Cream Day. Our favorite childhood flavor (along with pistachio), peach ice cream got nudged out of the lineup before the end of the last century. It was replaced by flavors such as Cookie Dough and Oreo.

Even Talenti, which makes 51 flavors, ditched its Peachin favor of flavors like Banana Caramel Crunch, Chocolate Pretzel and Key Lime Pie.

McConnell’s likewise: 24 flavors include Cherry Cheesecake & Graham Cracker Crumble, Cinnamon & Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Honey & Cornbread Cookies, but no more peach (take a last look at it in photo #3). Only Graeter’s, it seems, remains.

Why? Like anything else, trends. Younger customers have never had peach ice cream. And caramel, cookies, and crunch sound better to them than fruit.

Plus, fresh peaches are only available for four months at best (although frozen peaches work), so only smaller artisan producers tend to make it (look for Graeter’s—photo #2).

We made a batch with fresh peaches (the recipe is below); and it was so heavenly, we’ll be trying the frozen peaches when the summer is open.
 
 
WHAT ARE AMERICA’S FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVORS?

A recent Newsweek article reported on the most popular ice cream flavors in the U.S., based on a YouGov survey of approximately 20,000 adults. The results were released in July 2020.

The most popular flavors are, in order:

 
While we like any ice cream and have a particular fondness for five of those flavors, we’ll be making more peach ice cream next weekend. (Not so amazingly, yesterday’s quart is all gone.)
 
 
RECIPE: PEACHES & CREAM ICE CREAM

This rich and creamy recipe delivers a “peaches and cream” flavor rather than pure peach intensity.

It’s an extremely rich French custard recipe (or “French-style” ice cream), in the manner of Häagen-Daz, which includes eggs.

The recipe can be used with any type of fruit, as long as you have 5 cups of purée. The proportions work for a 4-quart ice cream maker. You can cut it in half.

When making ice cream, use very ripe fruit. Every time we see fresh peaches on sale because they’re so ripe that it’s their “last day,” we scoop them up and make ice cream.

Tips:

 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PURÉE the peaches in a food processor or blender, keeping the 3 cubed peaches aside. You need 5 cups of purée.

2. MIX together in a large bowl the eggs and sugar until smooth. Stir in the 5 cups of purée; blend well.

3. ADD the cream, milk, vanilla, and salt; blend well. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions (do not overfill your machine). Add the cubed peaches (the “inclusions”) according to the instructions for inclusions.

4. PLACE the ice cream in the freezer to harden. But before you do, enjoy a dish as “soft serve.” The flavors are more delicious right out of the churn, rather than after the ice cream hardens.
 
 
MORE PEACH ICE CREAM RECIPES

 
 
> THE HISTORY OF ICE CREAM
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FROZEN DESSERTS
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PEACHES