Southland's Snow Ice Cream
From Sonja

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.

 Here's a Snow Ice Cream Memories:

Snow Ice Cream Memory - British Columbia…
“Just wanted to say that I live in Northern BC Canada and have eaten a lot of snow ice cream! Its delicious and a fond memory. Both my husband and I had parents who grew up during the Dirty 30's as they referred to it, ice cream was not something I ever ate until I was in my teens, not that there wasn't such a thing, just that my mother didn't own an Ice Cream freezer, and for many years the stores didn't stock a lot of "fancy" foods, it was mostly the basics as food was trucked into the area from larger centers and took anywhere from 3 days to a week to make it to the stores. In the 1940's stuff did come in by rail to Dawson Creek, but was then trucked to Fort St John by who ever was going that way and had the room to take it. So evaporated milk, a bit of sugar and some flavouring was a real treat when mixed with snow! Eva taking a trip down memory lane.”

From East Tennessee
"I thought you might like this cute story my husband tells about snow ice cream, (he is 76 yrs. old). They grew up in east Tennessee (Bulls Gap) and did not have much. One of their favorite things that he can remember is his older sister making snow cream. After a big snow ,she told them she would make some if him and his brother would go fill a big pan with snow. They looked for the snow that was piled up the highest and easiest to get.  Needless to say, when she got it made , she found out they had gotten it from top of chicken coup and it was not choc. chips in it . Thanks for this site that was sent to me ,i am 70 and a lot of these recipes I remember my mom making."

 

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