WCCO.COM At The State Fair
Sep 2, 2009 6:59 pm US/Central
Ice Cream Machine Uses John Deere Tractor
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (WCCO) ―
-
-
When it comes to homemade ice cream machines, you may not think John Deere. But Robert Fulton of North Carolina did. He uses a 1937 John Deere hit-and-miss engine to make fresh ice cream.
CBS
A new spin on an old-fashioned machine is more of a hit than a miss at the Minnesota State Fair.
When it comes to homemade ice cream machines, you may not think John Deere. But Robert Fulton of North Carolina did.
"When they told me Robert Fulton was up here making ice cream with a machine," said WCCO-TV Anchor Don Shelby, "I was expecting it to be a steam engine."
Not quite a steam engine, Fulton said, but rather a 1937 John Deere hit-and-miss engine.
"Is that the miss that we're hearing?" Shelby asked.
"You're hearing the hitting," Fulton said.
Fulton has been offering a variety of ice cream flavors to Fair goers this year with this little engine that could, he said, adding the idea came from past generations.
"Well I was raised on a farm," Fulton said. "My grand-daddy was a farmer and then my daddy, he was a restaurant manager. So when you put the two together, it's a win-win situation."
And it's a situation that works.
Fulton and his team can whip up a batch of five gallons of ice cream in just 18 minutes. Plus, it's energy efficient. The John Deere hit-and-miss engine can crank 240 gallons of ice cream in eight hours using just one gallon of fuel.
"Every day we offer three flavors," Fulton said. "So it could be vanilla, cookies and cream, strawberry, chocolate. Sometimes we'll make banana split."
Just a few eggs, cream, sugar and a couple family secrets make up Fulton's ice cream recipe, plus careful supervision.
"We got somebody in the kitchen right now all the time and they're preparing everything as we need it, it's prepared and handed it out the door every day," Fulton said.
So how does an ice cream maker from North Carolina hear about the Minnesota State Fair?
"In the industry the buzz word is the Minnesota Fair is the Fair of Fairs," he said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Sept. 7: Day 12 At The Fair
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
