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Peach ice cream is one of those dishes that resonates with Texan overtones. Even in the fall we remember all those bushels of fruit at summer roadside stands, and we think of cool, fresh peach ice cream. Writer Olive Hershey knows all that. In her own way, she is dedicated to preserving the Texas tradition of fresh peach ice cream. Born in Houston, Hershey has spent much of her life at her family's ranch in Egypt, Texas. And it was there that the scoop was passed to Hershey by Nellie Moses, her grandmother's cook. "She's in her seventies now," the writer says. "She went to work for my grandmother when she was twelve, and she knows how to cook the best of nearly everything except coq au vin."

At the same time that Hershey was learning the secrets to silky, tasty ice cream, she was also pursuing her education (a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin) and her career (teaching creative writing at the University of Houston and Rice University, publishing short stories and poems, and completing her first novel, Truck Dance, to be published by Harper and Row in January).

Both Hershey and Moses are traditionalists all the way when it comes to technique. If you're going to make ice cream, you have to use an old hand-crank freezer. "Don't put the finished ice cream in your electric freezer -- it gets too hard," Hershey says. "Just pack some ice around the ice-cream maker, and serve out of that -- this stuff is best when it's a little melty and gooey. You'll eat it all by the end of the day anyway."

Peach Ice Cream

1 quart milk
6 egg yolks
3/4 to 1 pound powdered sugar, depending on sweetness desired
1 dozen medium-sized ripe peaches
1 pint cream

Make custard by scalding milk in double boiler. Beat yolks and sugar in bowl. Add to milk. Cook in double boiler until custard thickens, stirring constantly. Let cool.

Peel and slice peaches. Chop finely by hand or in blender. Combine cream, peaches, and cooled custard. Put in ice cream freezer and start cranking.