Banana Sherbet
1/2 dozen bananas 1 cup sugar Juice of one orange 1/8 ounce vegetable gelatin 3/4 cup water in which to dissolve the gelatin 1 egg white Water to make one pint of the dissolved gelatin Prepare the gelatin by soaking it in three successive change of hot water, allowing it to stand about one-half hour in each. Peel the bananas and rub them through a colander, and add the orange juice to them. Boil the sugar in one-half cup of water to 240 degree F., or till it threads, then beat this sirup into the stiffly beaten egg white. While the sugar is boiling, dissolve the gelatin, after being drained the last time, by boiling it in the one cup of water. Strain and add to it sufficient water to make one pint, then stir it into the bananas and orange juice. Lastly, fold in the egg white, into which the sirup was beaten. Turn into the freezer can, and freeze. This is very nice with strawberry sauce served over it, or with chopped nuts sprinkled over each helping.
A churned fruit ice set with agar rather than cream or cooked custard, from the vegetarian household tradition. The technique is closer to an Italian meringue folded into fruit purée than to a modern sorbet, and the two liquid measurements need reading carefully before you start.
- "Vegetable gelatin" is agar-agarSold as agar flakes, strands or powder in Asian groceries and health shops. An eighth of an ounce is about 3.5 g, which is a substantial amount for a pint of liquid; agar sets roughly eight times more firmly than animal gelatin by weight.
- The soaking is for flavour, not hydrationThe soaking washes as well as softens -- Three half-hour changes of hot water would have softened old-style bar or strand agar while also washing out much of its marine taste and residual colour. Modern refined agar powder is already neutral and needs only to be hydrated and boiled for two to three minutes to activate.
- Two different water measuresThe three-quarter cup listed for dissolving the gelatin becomes "one cup" in the method, and the finished gelatin liquid is then topped up to a full pint regardless. Boil in whatever volume covers the agar, strain, and make the result up to 2 cups.
- 240°F is not the thread stageThread is about 230°F; 240°F is the soft-ball stage. Take the syrup to 240°F, which is the correct temperature for pouring into beaten whites, and ignore the thread description.
- Pouring the syrupAdd it in a thin steady stream down the side of the bowl with the mixer running, not all at once, or the whites will scramble at the point of contact. Beat until the meringue is cool to the touch before folding it in.
- Work quickly once the agar is inAgar begins to gel around 100-105°F, far above gelatin's setting point. Combine it with the banana purée while still warm and get the mixture into the freezer before it sets into a solid block.
- The freezer canThis assumes a hand-cranked ice-and-salt freezer. A modern ice cream machine works, or still-freeze in a shallow pan and beat the mixture thoroughly two or three times during the first two hours to break up crystals.
- Texture and yieldAgar gives a firmer, slightly shorter set than dairy sherbet; let it soften ten minutes at room temperature before serving. The quantities make roughly 1.5 quarts, enough for six to eight.
- BananasUse fruit that is well speckled but not black, and add the orange juice to the purée immediately to slow browning.