Mensam Mundum – World Table: The blissful world of frozen desserts
- Esther Oertel
- Posted On
Not only can we scream for Ice cream, we can shout for sherbet, gelato, sorbet, shave ice, soft serve, ice pops, frozen yogurt, snow cones and frozen plant-based treats!
All these tasty concoctions are a welcome treat any time of year, but when temperatures rise, they become an absolute necessity.
In the heat of a summer day, my inner child comes out and I long to hear the musical tones of “Mr. Softee,” the ice cream truck that roamed the streets of my grandmother’s neighborhood decades ago.
Of all the blissful options, the one I crave most is ice cream, and it’s no wonder. Ice cream stimulates the release of serotonin and dopamine, two brain chemicals that boost one’s mood.
While I adore the rich lusciousness of a bowl of ice cream (and the resulting elation), I’m thankful for the lighter and more nutritious options available to us, like sorbets made simply with fruit, sugar and water or the many varieties of chilly treats made with dairy alternatives, such as coconut milk.
It’s hard to pin down the exact origins of what we now know as ice cream. According to historical records, an affinity for frozen drinks and desserts spans history and the globe.
As early as 4,000 B. C. nobles in Mesopotamia built ice houses along the Euphrates River so they could remain cool in the summer heat. Snow was sold in the streets of Athens in the fifth century B. C., most likely for mixing with wine to cool it.
Alexander the Great liked to indulge in snow and ice flavored with honey or nectar. Centuries later, Emperor Nero of Rome sent runners up mountainsides to bring him snow for fruit beverages.
During the Tang dynasty in China, flour, camphor and buffalo milk was mixed with ice to create a slushy beverage.
in the ancient Islamic world, sweetened drinks were cooled with snow from storehouses (in fact, the English word sherbet comes from a Turkish word for these drinks), and kulfi, a quasi-ice cream made from condensed milk frozen in molds, was served to Mughal emperors in India.
The first verified records of frozen ice creams and sherbets in Europe coincide with the earliest evidence for kulfi in India.
Both were possible due to the discovery that ice mixed with salt creates a lower freezing point than typical water. When liquid is immersed in a salt and ice slurry, an exothermic chemical reaction occurs which pulls heat away and causes quicker freezing. If stirred regularly, the formation of large ice crystals is prevented, resulting in a cold, scoop-able, foamy treat.
Some of us may have had the strenuous pleasure of cranking an old-fashioned ice cream machine. If so, the result of this chemical reaction was experienced.
Europe’s likely ice cream birthplace was Italy in the 1600s. Descriptions of water ices (also known as sherbet or sorbet) date to the 1620s, and by the middle of that century, they were featured in banquets across Europe.
Ice cream was brought to our side of the Atlantic by European colonists, with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson among its early aficionados.
Jefferson served ice cream in the executive mansion and among the small handful of recipes he wrote out, one was for French-style vanilla ice cream.
In the summer of 1790, a time when only the wealthy could afford ice cream, Washington spent roughly $200 on the frozen treat, the equivalent of over $5,500 today. In addition, he bought a mechanical ice cream maker for his estate at Mount Vernon and developed ice cream recipes.
Between the late 1800s and the mid-1900s, a plethora of ice cream innovations were made in the United States, including its mass production at factories, being sold at grocery stores, ice cream cones and soda fountains, from which came ice cream sodas, sundaes and milkshakes.
The dessert was further popularized during World War II when copious quantities were served in the military to boost morale. At that time, the U. S. military was the biggest producer of ice cream.
The Italian version of ice cream is known as gelato, which contains less air, making it denser. It’s lower in fat and is kept at a higher temperature than ice cream.
Sorbet is made with fruit or fruit juice, sometimes with alcohol, and has no dairy. Similarly, sherbet’s base is fruit juice, but it sometimes contains milk.
Shave ice, a frozen treat made with ice shaved from a large block and flavored with fruit syrup, is associated with Hawaii, though its early origins are in seventh century East Asia.
A snow cone is similar to shave ice; however, the ice is crushed, not shaved, which makes a difference in how the syrup is absorbed. Syrup will not drain to the bottom in a properly made shave ice.
These days there are dozens of versions of plant-based frozen desserts, made with soy, almond, or coconut milk in place of dairy products. Like traditional ice cream, they come in all forms: tubs, sandwiches and treats on a stick.
Speaking of treats on a stick, the invention of ice pops (now known as the brand name Popsicle) is a sweet story.
In 1905, an 11-year-old San Francisco boy named Frank Epperson left his powdered soda water drink on his porch after playing outside. The temperature doesn’t typically fall below freezing there, but it did that night, and when he found his drink in the morning, it was frozen solid, complete with its stir stick.
Years later, in 1922, Frank served his frozen “drink” to guests at a party, where it was a hit. He applied for and received a patent for it, initially calling it Ice on a Stick.
These days, over 1.6 billion gallons of ice cream and related frozen products are sold annually in the United States, with an average of four gallons per person being consumed each year! With those stats, it’s a good thing that our bodies burn more calories when eating something cold.
Today’s recipe is a basic template for sorbet. Using its techniques, any fruit can be turned into sorbet, whether a celebration of one or a favorite combination (like strawberry-nectarine).
A little liquor or wine can be stirred into its base for a grown-up sorbet (peach-bourbon or raspberry-rose’, for example), and herbs or spices can be infused into the simple syrup for unique flavor (think blackberry-thyme or watermelon-mint).
Sorbet can be turned into sherbet with a splash of coconut milk or cream.
Template for fruit sorbet
Use two pounds of fruit for a quart of sorbet. (This ends up being about five cups when cut up.) A little more or less is fine; this is a basic formula, not an exact recipe.
Puree the fruit with some sugar to create a sorbet base. The easiest way to add sugar is to create a simple syrup by simmering equal parts water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved and let it cool.
Start with 1 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup water and add in stages until desired sweetness is reached. If infusing with herbs or spices, add them to the simple syrup while it’s heating and strain it after it cools.
When adding sugar, remember that most fruit is sweet on its own and may not need much. Balance this with the knowledge that freezing dulls sweetness, so the mixture should taste slightly sweeter than desired.
After pureeing with sugar, strain the sorbet base.
In addition to sweetening it, sugar plays a role in the sorbet’s texture. Too little makes the sorbet icy, and too much will make it slushy.
Here’s a tip: an egg can be floated in the sorbet base to determine if the level is right. Wash and dry a large egg and place in the strained sorbet base. If a nickel-sized round of egg is showing above the base, it’s perfect. If the circle is smaller or if the egg sinks, more sugar is needed. If the circle is larger, water or fruit juice will need to be added to balance the sugar.
At this point a couple tablespoons of alcohol may be stirred in, if using.
Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 pan and freeze until firm (2 to 3 hours), stirring with a fork every half hour.
Transfer to a covered container to store in the freezer.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa, Calif. She lives in Middletown, Calif.