Teaberry ice cream; it’s a Pennsylvania thing
My absolute favorite flavor of ice cream when I was a kid was Teaberry. My absolute favorite flavor of ice cream five decades later is…Teaberry.
Some things never change and that’s a good thing! Say “teaberry” and in my mind, I am at Heisler’s Dairy Bar in the picturesque Schuylkill County farmland of the Lewistown Valley.
A trip to Heisler’s always involved a cone of teaberry ice cream, a round of miniature golf, and a ride on the fire truck that took adventurous kiddies — and my Dad — through the woods and fields surrounding the Dairy Bar. On special occasions, a trip to the Waffle House for fresh waffles topped with Heisler’s own-made ice cream and fresh fruit toppings was in order. But my old stand by – teaberry ice cream in a CONE – NO DISH for me!!– was never fully out of my mind.
If you have an ice cream maker, here’s one for you to try to bring back your own memories of PA and the Coal Region, or to start a new batch of fans among members of your family who have never had it before. The teaberry, also known as the checkerberry, boxberry, or American wintergreen, is a small red fruit found throughout the Eastern U.S.
Talking Teaberry
Teaberry is a true taste of The Coal Region; a native plant, an indigenous people’s “medicine”, a chewing gum, and in Pennsylvania — a much beloved ice cream flavor! Listen to my chat with Alfredo Mercuri, host of Coal Region Campfire podcast as we talk all things teaberry.
Homemade Teaberry Ice Cream
Course: DessertsCuisine: Coal RegionDifficulty: IntermediateMakes approximately 1 1/2 quarts.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon teaberry extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 drops red food coloring (adding 1 drop blue can give you a more authentic commercially prepared teaberry ice cream color)
pinch salt
Directions
- Place 4 cups of ice cubes into a large metal bowl and fill about a third of the way with cold water. Place a mesh strainer over a glass bowl nearby.
- Heat the milk and cream in a medium saucepan over low heat until it just begins to bubble; do not boil.
- Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl until pale yellow. Once the milk and cream are ready, remove from heat. Stir in the extracts. Temper the eggs by taking about 1/3 of the warmed milk mixture and slowly stream it into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Slowly pour the tempered yolks back into the saucepan while stirring then return to the heat on low and stir with a spatula scraping down the sides of the pan as well. Cook until an instant-read thermometer reads 170 degrees F.
- Pour the cooked custard into the strainer you set up over the glass bowl. Put the bowl into the ice water. Stir the custard until it cools. Once cool, cover the bowl with the custard with plastic and chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
- Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s instructions for your maker.
Notes
- Teaberry flavoring is available at some markets in PA and on the internet.