SUSAN S. YESKE
This is the week when we should be heading to the Middletown Grange Fair, held each August in Wrightstown.
We should be enjoying the midway, visiting the farm animals, checking out the vegetable and baking competitions, dining on chicken dinners and stopping in to see the Bucks County Dairy Princess. And don’t forget the incubators filled with baby chicks breaking out of their eggs, a favorite of families and especially children.
All of these are a miss this year, through no one’s fault; Covid-19 has canceled fairs and special events throughout the region. But we can enjoy Bucks County’s farming heritage in other ways, starting with the fair’s Virtual Showdown of the same categories we see in person each year. That includes youth and adult entries of fruits, vegetables, baked goods, jams and jellies, a variety of flowers and arrangements, needlework, quilts, handcrafts, painting, photography and much more.
For more of an in-person experience head for your favorite farmers market and take time to chat with the farmers (practicing social distancing, of course). They are always ready to talk about their crops or the chickens that produce their eggs. They often have suggestions on the best ways to cook the vegetables they grow.
Take a drive out to the countryside to check out the fields of farmland and the cows. You might even find a place to stop for a chicken dinner.
There is no substitute for a visit to the Bucks County Dairy Princess’s station at the Grange Fair, but you can make your own ice cream at home with this recipe from
foodnetwork.com.
No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream
Ice cream:
One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Pinch fine salt
2 cups heavy cream, cold
Mix-in options:
Cookies and cream: 12 chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
Crunchy cereal: 1½ cups cinnamon crunch cereal, crushed
Cookies and lemon: ½ cup jarred lemon curd and 1 cup shortbread cookies, crushed
1. For the ice cream: Whisk together the condensed milk, vanilla and salt in a large bowl; set aside.
2. Whip the cream with a mixer on medium-high speed until firm peaks form, about 2 minutes. Fold about 1 cup of the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture with a rubber spatula until combined, then fold the lightened mixture into the whipped cream until well blended.
Pour into a chilled 9-by-5-by-3-inch metal loaf pan, and freeze, covered, until thick and creamy, like soft-serve, about 2 hours. Swirl in any desired mix-ins with a spoon. Continue to freeze, covered, until solid and scoopable, about 3 hours more.
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