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Frozen Apricots
1 Quart Can Apricots Water 2 Cups Corn Syrup To the syrup from the apricots add the corn syrup and sufficient water to make 1 quart. Since the sweetness of the apricots varies, more or less corn syrup may be needed. Put the apricots through a strainer, mix the pulp thoroughly with the liquid and freeze the mixture.
A water ice built entirely from a can of fruit and its own syrup — no dairy, no eggs, no cooking. The proportions matter more than they look, because sugar concentration is what keeps a fruit ice scoopable rather than solid.
- The canA "quart can" of apricots is nominally about 32 oz, near the old No. 2 1/2 can and close to today's large can of apricot halves in syrup. Two standard 15-oz cans will do it; use fruit packed in syrup, not in juice or water, since the packing syrup is a working ingredient here.
- Corn syrupLight corn syrup, the Karo type, is what is meant , not high-fructose corn syrup, which is a different product sold to manufacturers. Whatever the reason for the choice, corn syrup resists crystallising and helps keep the finished ice smooth.
- Don't cut the sweetenerThis is the hinge. The sugar in the liquid is what depresses the freezing point and keeps the texture soft; a mixture sweetened to taste rather than to strength freezes into a solid block you cannot get a spoon into. If the apricots are very sweet, reduce the corn syrup only slightly and make up the volume with water.
- StrainingPressing the fruit through a sieve removes skins and gives a fine pulp. A blender or food processor is quicker but leaves the skins in; if you use one, pass the purée through a medium strainer afterwards.
- "Freeze the mixture"In 1900s usage this means a hand-crank freezer packed with cracked ice and rock salt, churned until stiff. An electric ice cream maker does the same job in 20-30 minutes. Without one, freeze in a shallow metal pan and break up the ice crystals with a fork every 30 minutes for about three hours.
- A brightenerCanned apricots and corn syrup together are flat on the palate. A tablespoon or two of lemon juice, stirred in before freezing, sharpens the fruit without changing the sugar balance meaningfully.
- YieldAbout a quart and a half of finished ice, enough for six generous servings. It is best within a day or two; longer storage coarsens the texture.
Fruit ices made from canned fruit belong to a specific moment in American home cooking, when reliable commercial canning had put out-of-season apricots, peaches and pineapple within reach of an ordinary household year-round, and when mechanical ice-cream freezers had become widely available. That combination is exactly why a recipe like this sits in a bride's cookbook: it asks for no cooking, no custard, no judgement about eggs, and produces a company dessert from a pantry shelf. The reliance on corn syrup rather than sugar is consistent with the heavy promotion of refined corn syrup as a household sweetener in the first decades of the twentieth century, and it happens to be sound technique its glucose and dextrins interfere with crystal growth, which is the same reason confectioners use it.