Summer’s Heat Calls for Ice Cream

Writer: Donna Crumly Harvey

I almost had this penned and misplaced it.  I hope that even now as it begins to feel like fall you will be able to enjoy this.

Everyone is experiencing very high heat this summer and it seems to me that is has been really prolonged.  My heritage is such that a freezer of ice cream was frequently churned and the Crumly family would only use the hand turned type of freezer.  So many good times have been had around the ice cream churn.  The last one that Mother and Daddy had was a white mountain brand and it did turn out a great freezer of ice cream.  Now to begin the liquid was made in the kitchen and Billie Crumly did not use a recipe that was written but she always could make a great batch of ice cream.  She would keep peaches or strawberries in bags which were unsweetened and used specifically for the ice cream.  I think daddy’s favorite was always the strawberry kind.

Around the first of July our granddaughter was to be in the National Daisy BB Shooting Championship which was held in Rogers, Arkansas.  I would never have thought of going to Rogers for a vacation but we decided that we would make the trip with her and Emmalie was extremely excited that we were going with her.  We decided that it would be easier on us to fly to Springfield, Missouri, and pick up a rental car and drive just a couple of hours to Rogers, AR.  Little did I know this trip would cause my poor little mind to dwell on something new to me, a frozen custard.  We were told by our son-in-law that one of his acquaintances had told him, while we were in Rogers that we just had to stop at “Andy’s Frozen Custard” and that we did after a couple of days.  Oops!  Now the memories of Andy’s linger in my taste buds and in my mind.  I have searched the internet for “Andy’s” close to us here in the Atlanta area but to no avail.  The closest will be Nashville but it is only opening in spring of 2016.   I have checked the internet for frozen custard recipes and I have even made one of them with real vanilla bean.  First of all I could not find it in the grocery store and went about asking for location and was taken multiple spots when it was finally located in the spice section and there were two of the long dry beans in the jar and would you believe they cost $8.50.  Billie Crumly would have had a spell but she too would have probably purchased it.  Don’t you remember her saying that they likes expensive foods?  The custard was cook and I know she did not want to fool with cooked making for ice cream.  It also had five egg yolks, half and half, and whipping cream.  Rich was not the word for it.  Seemed to take a long time to freeze and it was good but we all said that it just was not Andy’s Frozen Custard.  I did have some left and put it in the freezer and it, to me, tasted better when it was frozen harder.  Maybe I just like really frozen ice cream best.

Anyway, I must say that we loved the Andy’s Frozen Custard.  It was an outside stand and there were benches lining the concrete where customers would walk up to the window and order.  They had something that they call “Concrete’s” and my favorite was the butter pecan concrete.  I chose the small and it was plenty.   Cup seemed to be the size of a nice drinking cup.  Somehow the butter pecan had a soft butterscotch and then there were added unfrozen pecan halves in the cream.  Wow!  I have wished numerous times that I could run to Andy’s.  Even if there were one in Chattanooga, I think we would make a trip there to get a Frozen Custard.  Ice Cream, Custard and wishes for more are all just part of my City-fied Country Living.