It’s officially summer and Debbie Duncan is going all-in on a concoction she says is summer in a glass.
What does summer taste like?
I thought I’d have to dig deep for my answer, because many of the foods I remember from my 1950’s and 60’s childhood summers came out of a can or a freezer pouch—peaches, green beans, even corn. To be honest, those flavors kinda blended together. So did the taste of cherries when they swam with other bits of so-called fruit in a syrupy sauce poured out of a can and called fruit cocktail. My mid-century space-age suburban family did not eat seasonally or locally.
But we did have a station wagon. And one of my dad’s favorite things to do after dinner on summer evenings was drive my brothers and me to the new Southern California drug store, Sav-On, for ice cream cones: five cents for one scoop, 10 for two. I had a feeling Mom didn’t approve of Dad eating ice cream, but when he was out with us, he indulged in his favorite flavor, chocolate chip. I always ordered strawberry—two scoops of creamy strawberry ice cream melting over a sugar cone.
I’d forgotten about that glorious taste of summer until a couple of weeks ago, when I tested a recipe for something called strawberry milk: Cut farmers market strawberries up into a blender and sprinkle with sugar. Stir them a few times over the next hour until nice and goopy, then puree until smooth. Add good, whole milk and … buttermilk. Stir. Let the mixture steep in the fridge overnight, and oh my goodness!