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Making cool Fourth of July memories
The middle of the summer brings the Fourth of July and lots of family fun. It’s the time we celebrate our great nation with fantastic fireworks, family picnics and backyard barbecues. Make some cool new memories with this easy recipe for old-fashioned homemade ice cream.
The Inside Scoop on the Science of Ice Cream
• Make sure the bags are tightly closed before the tossing begins, or you’ll have a mess. It takes a lot of shaking and tossing before the mixture turns to ice cream. Another surprise is how cold the ice cream gets. You many even want to dig up those winter gloves for this summer fun as your hands can get cold.
• Be careful when removing the small bag of ice cream from the larger bag. Rinse it off to prevent your ice cream from getting “salty.”
• Try a variety of fruits in your ice cream. Ripe bananas, strawberries, blueberries and diced peaches all work well. Canned, diced and drained fruit can work as well. Remember to wash any fresh fruit you add before mixing in with ice cream mixture.
Bring up for discussion how we make ice cream. Think back to the cold days of winter on this hot summer day. Salt lowers the temperature at which water freezes, so with salt, the ice will melt even when the temperature is below the normal freezing point of water. The ice-salt combination gets colder than pure water ice and can freeze ingredients to turn them into ice cream. Who knew science could be so delicious.
Ice Cream in a Bag
Yield: One serving
Ingredients
• One tablespoon sugar
• One-fourth teaspoon vanilla extract
• One-to-two tablespoons soft fruit (strawberries)
• Half-cup low-fat milk
• One-third cup rock salt (outside bag)
• Ice cubes
Directions
Wash hands with soap and water. Put sugar in quart-size freezer bag that has zip closure. Add vanilla and soft fruit. Seal the bag tightly. Mix well by squeezing with fingers until everything is combined.
1. Open bag and add milk. Reseal bag again and mix until everything is combined.
2. Open a gallon-size freezer bag with zip closure and put in cup rock salt. Do not put salt in the small bag. Fill the gallon-size bag halfway full of ice cubes.
3. Put the quart bag into the gallon bag and seal shut. Shake the bag for five minutes or until the liquid has changed to ice cream. You can toss the bag gently with a partner, too, to share the fun and the cold.
4. Take quart bag out of gallon bag. Eat with spoon and enjoy.
Nutrition information: One-hundred grams calories, zero grams total fat, 50 milligrams sodium, 20 grams total carbohydrates, zero grams fiber
(Source: Nebraska Food Calendar)
Visit our homepage at www.extension.purdue.edu/putnam or you can contact the local Purdue Extension Office by calling 653-8411 for more information regarding this week’s column topic or to RSVP for upcoming events. It is always best to call first to assure items are ready when you arrive and to RSVP for programs.
Upcoming Events
July 4 – Office closed for holiday
July 8 – Deadline for 4-H fair entry and quality assurance completion/submission
July 19-26 – Putnam County Fair