Canadians have been enjoying frozen desserts for a long time. Technically speaking sherbet is a frozen dessert containing 1% to 2% dairy products. Sorbet is a dairy free frozen dessert. Both of these tasty frozen dishes are flavoured with fruit and sweetened water. In the early 20th Century it appears that Canadian cooks found these two terms synonymous with one another.
Two Old Fashioned Recipes
These two recipes for frozen lemon desserts were placed several pages apart in The Toronto Cook Book compiled by Mrs. E. J. Powell, copyrighted in 1915, and printed by the now defunct publisher The Mortimer Company of Toronto.
Lemon Ice Cream
- One quart water, juice of four lemons, one pound of sugar; strain, and when ready to freeze beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth.
If success was not had with this recipe, turn a few pages for perhaps a better one.
Lemon Sherbet
- The juice of six lemons, one quart cold water, two cups sugar; when half frozen add the beaten whites of two eggs, and freeze until done. This makes quite an improvement in Lemon Sherbet. Orange Sherbet may be made in the same way by using the juice of six orange.
In the hands of an experienced cook these recipes probably resulted in a tasty frozen treat, but for today’s cook they may prove to be a bit challenging to interpret. The following modern recipe for Lemon Sorbet is a bit more explicit in its instructions and vivacious with its ingredients.
Ingredients for Lemon Sorbet – serves 2 to 4
- ½ cup lemon juice (fresh is better, but bottles is o.k. too)
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup dry white wine
- ½ cup water
- 1 egg white
Cooking Utensils
- Small saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- Strainer for lemon juice
- A 3”x 8” x 8” cake pan or shallow container
- Electric mixer or egg beater
- Glass bowl large enough to beat egg whites in
- Fork
- Spatula
Method
- Place the water, wine and sugar in the saucepan. Over low heat stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil for 10 minutes, then lower heat. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.
- If using fresh lemons, strain the juice before adding to the cooled sugar liquid. Stir well. Pour into container. Freeze until mixture is just firm, but not yet solid – approximately 60 to 75 minutes.
- While waiting for mixture to freeze, beat egg white until firm.
- The beaten egg white is important as it prevents the formation of large ice crystals. It is better to use a fresh egg, though some success has been had with commercially prepared frozen egg whites.
- Transfer the frozen mixture into a mixing bowl. Using a fork beat until smooth. Add the firmly beaten egg white. Return the sorbet to the container.
- Freeze the sorbet until firm. To prevent the sorbet from forming a solid block, stir occasionally with a fork.
To serve, flake the sorbet with a fork. Serve alone as a dessert on its own, or as a garnish to a fresh fruit salad.
Like Champagne Sorbet, this recipe does take time to make as the mixture needs to freeze between each step. If making the day before, use a sealable plastic container to avoid the transference of flavours from other foods in the freezer.
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