June 18th, 2012 
Moomers Ice Cream photo credit: http://ertownhall.org/Moomers Homemade Ice Cream photo credit: http://www.michigan.org/
I was at a recent event honoring a cow. When I first heard of such an celebration, I thought people will think up any excuse to have a party. Hold up, this is legitimate. This festival glorified a legendary cow by naming the event after her, Colantha Walker Festival. This is the 3rd annual appreciation. In 1926, she produced nearly 23,000 pounds of milk. To give you a range for the Michigan state average that year it was recorded by a Federal census, the state average production for milk only 3,918 lbs. of milk per cow per year. In her lifetime, from 1916 to 1932, her total production was 200,114.9 pounds of milk. This can only mean one thing in the summer time, yummy ice cream!
Many local food vendors joined in on the fun. I had to make it over to the vendor that I felt continues to honor Colantha today. A local ice cream maker, Moomers, prides itself on the most delicious tasting ice cream because of a key ingredient, quality milk. Moomers knows ice cream, they were voted ‘America’s Best Scoop’ on ABC’s Good Morning America in May 2008.
Traverse Colantha Walker trophy winner photo credit: http://www.upnorthlive.com/
While they couldn’t share a recipe, the best advice was to always use the freshest ingredients as the foundation to your ice cream. Don’t be frightened by the use of temperatures in this recipe. The precision is the road map to a perfect, fragrant and not-too-sweet vanilla ice cream. The last step allows for adding your own flavors. Enjoy this ice cream as a year-round treat.
Moomers Homemade Ice Cream photo credit: http://www.michigan.org/
Serves about 1 1/4 quarts
4 egg yolks
1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean
Directions:
1.Heat milk and cream in a small saucepan with half the sugar to 175 degrees.
2.Meanwhile,beat the yolks with the remaining sugar at least 2 min. with an electric mixer or 4 min. with a whisk until pale yellow.
3.Slowly pour a small amount of the heated milk-cream-sugar mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly as you pour.
4.Whisk the thinned egg yolks back into the saucepan containing the remaining milk-cream-sugar.
5.Scrape the insides of the vanilla bean into the saucepan.
6.Heat to 180 degrees.
7.Pour the cooked custard through a fine mesh strainer into a container.
8.Chill custard to 40 degrees or lower. (You can make ahead and refrigerator overnight.)
9.Churn for 30 minutes. If you have any add-ins, add to the ice cream for the last 30 seconds.
10.Put in the freezer in an air-tight container for 2-4 hours to harden completely.
