Mom's Ice Cream Freezer Was Supposed to Make Money

Happy Fourth of July!

My fondest memory from Independence Day was my mother’s French vanilla ice cream, which she churned in a one-gallon White Mountain freezer on the back patio. For supper, Dad served up hamburgers and hot dogs from the grill. But dessert waited until nightfall, when Mom scooped up soft-serve ice cream while the city’s fireworks show lit up the sky.

I think my mother wanted other folks to have that same experience of sharing homemade ice cream churned in an old-fashioned freezer. So her store, B&G Hardware, rented out a five-gallon White Mountain ice cream freezer for family reunions, church picnics and other social gatherings. To advertise her ice cream freezer, Mom put her grandson, Alex, in a newspaper ad with his hand on the crank. (Had Alex been called upon to actually hand churn five gallons of ice cream, the state would have seized him for child abuse.)

Several years later, Mom got sick and had to liquidate her hardware store. As a result, the ice cream freezer migrated to my father’s hardware store, Copeland Supply. But he didn’t promote it, so the freezer didn’t get much action. Here’s a picture of it sitting in the break room at his store. Note the peeling paint and additional clamp holding the top of the wooden barrel snugly together.

Eventually, my father sold his store and moved his personal collection of tools and artifacts to a hobby museum he built on the west end of McPherson. The White Mountain ice cream freezer, increasingly creaky, made the move too. But, alas, after a few years, the hobby museum became too much for my father to maintain. So Dad decided to auction off his entire collection.

When the ice cream maker came up for bid, an out-of-towner in the crowd raised his hand. This person had traveled from Minnesota to stake a claim to some of the artifacts, including the five-gallon ice cream freezer. This out-of-towner—and the winning bidder—was my other nephew, Larry. And because of him, the freezer is still in our family.

Here are some pics of the artifact in action over the years.

In 2016, my nephew’s son was enlisted to churn ice cream at a family reunion for my father’s 90th birthday. Note that there is now a clamp at the bottom of the ice cream maker as well as at the top.

The following year, the family gathered in the Ozarks for another family reunion. Larry gets churning duty (after hauling both his pontoon boat the the ice cream maker from Minnesota to Missouri).

Most recently, the ice cream maker was put to use at a family reunion for Larry’s in-laws. Technically, Larry could have charged a rental fee, but because his wife Lisa holds the ice cream recipe, her family enjoys a free pass for life.

Here is the recipe Lisa uses, with ingredients scaled for the five-gallon freezer:

FRENCH VANILLA ICE CREAM
80 egg yolks (“Gotta keep the chickens in business,” Lisa notes.)
10 cups granulated sugar
1 gallon + 1 quart whole milk
1 gallon + 1 quart heavy cream
3/4 cup vanilla extract
Add the egg yolks and sugar to a pot and whisk until a light yellow color and well combined. In another pot, heat milk over medium-low heat until it just begins to simmer. Do not stir. Gradually add milk to egg and sugar mixture, stirring constantly. (If it’s easier, do this step in two equal batches.)

Return to heat until it reaches 165 degrees F, but do not allow it to come to a boil. As soon as it reaches the correct temperature, remove from heat. Pour custard base into airtight containers and chill to 65 degrees F. (The longer it chills, the creamier the custard will be.)

Once the custard base is ready, stir in the heavy cream and vanilla extract, then pour into your ice cream canister. Seal tightly and insert into the wood barrel, with crank assembly in position. Pack ice around container and sprinkle with rock salt. Crank to agitate the custard as it chills, replacing the ice and salt as they melt down. The ice cream is ready to serve when the person cranking the canister requires shoulder surgery.

BONUS QUESTION: Because Mom & Pop Hardware readers possess an insatiable appetite for anything related to tools and fasteners, here is a bit of trivia to test your hardware knowledge. I have made a couple of references to the clamps holding the freezer barrel together. What is the technical term for this type of clamp?

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ANSWER: Technically it is called a worm-gear clamp. But half a point to those who guessed a hose clamp, a more commonly used term.