The year of
1947 or 1948 had one of the biggest snows ever seen in Louisiana. I was about
two or three years old, and my family lived in the company housing at a
sawmill. The snow was about two or three feet deep, and it was so cold that the
water pipes froze solid. Even the trap under the kitchen sink froze solid. My
parents went somewhere during the day, and Mama dressed me in a pink snow suit
with jodhpur leggings that strapped under the
soles of my shoes. Daddy was going to break the snow to make a trail to the
car, but I was so excited, I jerked away from Mama, ran out the door, and
disappeared feet-first into a snow drift. I was pulled out, gasping and
sputtering, and after brushing the snow off me, we went on out to the car.
Once we
returned, late that evening, Daddy took a large enamel dish pan and went outside
and filled it to the brim with fresh, clean snow. He made up a big bowl of snow
ice cream, and we sat by the little stove in the living room and toasted our
toes while we ate bowls of the delicious ice cream. That was my first
experience with a wonderful Southern treat. Years later, I was surprised to
discover that so many people who live where there is a yearly snowfall did not
seem to know anything about this wonderfully simple and delicious treat. I have
never seen a recipe for snow ice cream in any cookbook, so it must be passed
down from generation to generation through certain families by word of mouth.
Each time we have a snowfall, we try to celebrate it by making up a bowl of this
ice cream. Unfortunately, in my area of the country, snowfall is a rare event.
Southland's Snow Ice Cream
Large bowl or big dishpan full of fresh, clean snow
1 can of evaporated milk, or pint carton of half and half, or equivalent amount
of heavy cream(about)
granulated sugar, about 1 cup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Fill a large
mixing bowl or dishpan with fresh, clean snow. Add about 1 cup sugar. With
wooden spoon, fold snow together with sugar. Add vanilla extract. Slowly stir
in evaporated milk or half and half or heavy cream. Add and stir milk or half
and half or heavy cream until snow-sugar mixture takes on the consistency of
custard ice cream or unripened homemade freezer ice cream. (It may not require
all of the can of milk or carton of half and half or heavy cream to reach this
consistency. This is a kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants recipe and takes
only minutes to make.) When snow ice cream reaches this stage, spoon into
individual serving bowls and serve immediately.
My family always used evaporated milk to make this recipe because we preferred
the flavor over that of half and half or heavy cream.
I understand that some folks use a can of sweetened condensed milk to make their
version of this recipe.
