86-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 27, 2002 At Summertime Auctions, Ice Cream A Hot Ticket MICHELLE KUNJAPPU frosty level needed for ice cream. Lancaster Fanning Staff The engine chums the canister ELIZABETHTOWN (Lancas- for 15-25 minutes. “When the en ter Co.) —lf you find yourself at gine stalls or the belt slips off,” a benefit auction on a warm day, said Sam, the ice cream is done, follow the sound of steady chug- “Anyone that makes homemade ging and the sight of the smokey ice cream will know when it’s fin furl from an antique engine. ished because you can hardly Amidst the crowd gathered turn it,” he said. Timing is im around the machine will be a sil- portant, said Grace, since once ver canister brimming with ice the top is open it is difficult to re cream manufactured by the agi- close, so the ice cream must be Grace hands out ice cream to eager customers. taring action from the engine. Also at the engine will be Sam and Grace Gish, serving dips of the gallons of ice cream they will scoop out during the event. They are joined by Sam’s brother Eu gene and Eugene’s friend Anna Swartz in most of their ice cream making efforts. During the day, they will make many gallons of their famous concoction (Grace altered the recipe originally from Ohio) that is crowned with Grace’s home made strawberry and black rasp berry toppings. Milk The Main Ingredient One batch includes a gallon and a half of milk, besides pud ding, white and brown sugar, cream, and eggs. For the black raspberry variety, black raspber ry syrup is added in place of milk. The couple creates choco late ice cream with chocolate milk and chocolate pudding. Besides these standard flavors, however, they have sold an alter native variety, according to Grace. During one event, Grace’s cousin Clair Burkhart took what he thought to be black raspberry syrup from the refrigerator and used red beet juice in an entire batch of ice cream. “People ate the whole thing,” said Grace. “They just laughed and thought it was funny. It doesn’t seem to matter how you make it. People will just eat homemade ice cream.” Even while she was fine tuning the recipe, said Grace, and came up with a few less-than-perfect batches, she always seemed to someone who would eat it. All of the ingredients go into the canister, which is surrounded by 45 pounds of ice and 10 pounds of salt “and enough water to get it started,” said Sam. The ice and salt bring the ingre dients’ temperature down to the ready for consumption when the top comes off. “Sam just knows when it is done,” said Grace. The secret, he said, is waiting until the ice cream is stiff enough, and to make sure the mixture is suffi ciently surrounded by salt. i i It doesn’t seem to matter how you make it. People will just eat homemade ice cream. 9 5 In the garden Grace raises the gene were at the Ohio sale and black raspberries and strawber- saw that they were making ice lies that make the toppings. “I cream with the engines, she said, always run out of that,” she said. “It really started with the engines Ohio Relief Sale the engines were the hobby.” Their participation began The couple, former dairy farm when Sam noticed an Amishman ers, were also attracted to the Sam Gish takes care of the antique engines. Sam and Grace Gish are joined by grandchildren Tom, 13; Nathan, 12; Aaron, 10; Zach, 8; Maddie, 6; and Caleb, 7, in front of an antique engine the couple uses to make homemade ice cream. making homemade ice cream at the relief sale in Ohio. The man came in to teach them the art of making ice cream with antique engines at the Men nonite Central Committee (MCC) relief sale in Pennsylva nia. After he came for two years, the Gishes purchased their own rig and began making ice cream for other events, as well. One aspect that attracted the couple to the process was the en gines. “The interest first was in these old engines,” Grace said. “My husbands collected old en gines and didn’t have anything to do with them” until he and Eu- Grace Gish mechanical workings of the possibility of promoting milk products, since “we were pretty much involved in dairy farming and dairy farmers like to promote milk,” said Sam. They milked 70 cows on 130 acres be fore they went into trucking. Their son now lives on the nearby home farm. Although Sam still enjoys col lecting engines, he has sold the ice cream rig to Eugene. Sam functions as the “mechanic that keeps it going,” said Grace, and the couples work together to make ice cream for sev eral functions. Kraybill Men- nonite Sale Organizers of the sale at Kray bill Mennonite School were eager to incorpo rate the novelty ice cream making process into their sale day, so the Gishes began making ice cream for that event 17 years ago. Maddie Gish approves of her grand- During the mother’s homemade strawberry topping. day they will make 20 batches at five gallons of ice cream per batch. Each batch serves 60-70 people, esti mates Sam, Of their five children, four graduated from the school. They also have six grandchildren en rolled at the school, four grand children who have graduated, and four who will attend the school. In addition to the Kraybill sale, they also make ice cream for Lancaster’s Make-A-Wish Foun dation on Mother’s Day, besides Pennsylvania’s MCC Relief Sale. At the MCC sale in two days they make 40-45 batches. The Elizabethtown Fair, con ducted in August, is warm enough for Eugene to average nine batches of ice cream a day for six days, according to Sam. MOUNT JOY (Lancaster Co.) Kraybill Mennonite School’s 25th Annual Benefit Auction will be conducted May 10 and 11 at the school, Kraybill Church and Gibble Road, Mount Joy. The festivities begin on Friday with a craft show, lawn and gar den show, and southern style pig roast, along with an antique and collectibles auction. Chi Saturday the craft show reopens and the auction, which includes quilts, goods and services by local and national businesses, and outdoor items such as mulch, plants, garden tools. For more information call (717) 653-5236 or click on check kraybillmennonite.org/auction. Eugene also makes ice cream for other numerous nonprofit events during the summer. The Gishes make ice cream for the senior citizen’s group at their church each summer, besides the church’s Bible school and family get-togethers. When they sell the ice cream at commercial events such as Falmouth goat races, pro ceeds go to the church. The couple enjoys meeting people at the events, said Sam. “Everyone is friendly it’s ev eryone’s social hour.” Several sizes of ice cream freezers, from two- to ten-quart sizes, sit around the Gish home, which they use for smaller-sized batches of ice cream for their own use.
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