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Lemon Ice
Four quarts of water, 10 lemons, 4½ pounds of sugar. Grate half the lemons, squeeze out, and put rind, juice , half the water and sugar into a pan, set it on the fire and stir until the sugar is dissolved and it becomes quite warm. Then remove and add the remaining 2 quarts of water and strain into the freezer. If it is not tart enough add American Fruit Acid to suit your taste; then freeze in the usual manner. whites before freezing or when half frozen; this is not recommended, as it Some makers add a few egg makes the ice too light, and the consequence is that the ice will become icy and rough after standing any length of time.
A classic water ice, built on a simple syrup infused with lemon zest and churned in a salt-and-ice freezer. The proportions are sound; only the equipment and the vocabulary need translating.
- Scale it downAs written this makes roughly five quarts of finished ice, enough for twenty or more servings at a fountain. For a domestic machine, quarter it: 1 quart water, 2 to 3 lemons, about 1 lb (2¼ cups) sugar.
- Do not boil the syrupThe instruction is to warm only until the sugar dissolves. Boiling drives off the volatile oils in the grated rind, which are the whole point of zesting half the fruit, and cooked lemon juice loses its brightness.
- "American Fruit Acid"A proprietary acid preparation of the period, most likely citric or tartaric acid in solution, used to sharpen flavour. A pinch of powdered citric acid, or simply another lemon, does the same job.
- "The freezer"Here this means a hand-crank ice-cream freezer: a metal can turned inside a bucket packed with cracked ice and rock salt. Any modern churn works. Chill the strained mixture thoroughly before churning, or the machine will struggle.
- Strain properlyGrated zest, pips and pulp all need to come out through a fine sieve, or the finished ice will be gritty and the rind bitter after a day in the freezer.
- Sugar is structure, not just sweetnessRoughly 4½ lb to 4 quarts of liquid gives something over 30 percent sugar by weight, which is what keeps a water ice scoopable. Cutting the sugar substantially will give you a solid block.
- The garbled passageThe last sentences are scrambled in the original setting. Reassembled, they read: some makers add a few egg whites before freezing or when half frozen; this is not recommended, as it makes the ice too light, and the consequence is that the ice will become icy and rough after standing any length of time.
- Serving and keepingBest within a few hours of churning. If held overnight it will freeze hard; let it stand fifteen minutes at room temperature before scooping.
Lemon ice is the plainest member of the water-ice family, and by the time this book was printed it was common stock at American soda fountains, dispensed alongside ice cream, phosphates and mineral waters. The trade generally distinguished ices (water, sugar, fruit, no dairy) from sherbets (an ice lightened with egg white, gelatine or milk) and from ice creams proper, which may be why the author troubles to argue against the egg-white version here and objects to a texture that goes "icy and rough" on standing. A commercial ice had to keep for hours and still scoop cleanly, and the use of a bought-in "fruit acid" points the same way: supply houses of the period sold acids, extracts and syrups that let an operator hit a consistent tartness whatever the lemons were like that week.