Cooking for Pleasure: Peach Ice Cream vs Peach Gelato

Which is better?

Peach dessert by Patty Schied

By Patty Schied

What could be better this time of year than eating homemade fresh peach ice cream or gelato? I have wondered for a while which one is better, so I decided to make both and have a taste test.

For these recipes you need an ice cream maker, alas, without one you won’t be able to make them.  Fortunately, there are many ice cream makers for sale, some very deluxe and others inexpensive but still easy to use. If you like ice cream, they are a great investment because the homemade variety not only tastes better, it is also cheaper.

The hardest part of making these ice desserts was finding good peaches. I visited every store in town sniffing peaches to find the best ones. Because I needed so many, I purchased yellow, white, and also nectarines.  Even so, I had to toss a few fruits because some were too green and I was too impatient to let them ripen in a bowl.

Each recipe required two cups of chopped peaches or about 3 or 4 whole peaches, peeled and cut up. It is easy to peel peaches. Bring a pan of water to a boil, drop in a peach and let it cook for about a minute, remove into a bowl of ice water and let it sit for another minute. The peel should slip right off.

Each recipe makes about a quart and a half of frozen dessert. The mixtures should be made a day ahead and stored overnight in the refrigerator so that they are thoroughly chilled.

For the Gelato:

2 cups finely chopped fresh peaches mixed with ¼ cup sugar and set aside.

1 pint of half and half.

½ cup sugar.

1 pinch of salt.

3 tablespoons cornstarch.

Place sugar, salt, and cornstarch into a heavy-bottom medium saucepan. Turn heat to medium and gradually whisk in half and half. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in peaches. Taste for sugar. Pour into bowl.

Cover mixture with plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator overnight.

For the Peach Ice Cream:

2 cups of finely chopped fresh peaches mixed with ½ cup of sugar and set aside.

2 cups heavy cream.

1 cup half & half.

½ cup sugar.

¼ tsp salt.

4 egg yolks.

1 tsp of vanilla.

Beat egg yolks until light in color. Heat cream, half and half, sugar and salt in a heavy-duty pan at medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  

Very slowly pour ½ cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. This ‘tempers’ the egg yolks. It is important that this process is done carefully, or the yolks will curdle and you will have to do this step all over again.

Pour the egg/cream mixture into the pan and heat slowly, stirring constantly until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. DO NOT BOIL.

Strain milk egg mixture into a large bowl. Add peaches and vanilla extract. Stir and cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, pour mixture into ice cream maker following machine directions. (Some machines can make both the same day. If you are using the Ninja ice cream maker, the ice cream and gelato mixtures must be frozen overnight in the designated containers.)

Each recipe makes about a quart and a half of gelato/ice cream. If you are used to purchasing grocery store ice cream, you will notice that this recipe makes a much denser frozen dessert. 

THE TASTE TEST

I invited several friends to come and taste the desserts, interested in learning what they preferred. They liked both equally, saying that the ice cream was lush and decadent with its creamy richness and that the gelato was lighter with a more intense peach flavor. It surprised me that one small scoop of each was all that my guests wanted because of the dense richness of each. Even though six guests were encouraged to eat more, I ended up with a lot left. 

The conclusion, if there is one, is that either dessert is great. If you want one with less sugar and fat, the gelato is the best choice. If you want the rich creaminess of homemade ice cream, select that one. Either one is much cheaper than any store-bought variety.

• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and has written a cookbook. Cooking For Pleasure appears every other week in the Juneau Independent's features. She welcomes questions about her column at patschied@yahoo.com.