Ices & Iced Puddings

The heat here in this part of the world is intense at present and one should always have a water ice or iced pudding on hand to serve as a refreshing dessert. Otherwise known as sorbet, ices may be flavoured with just about any type of fruit.  Ms Beeton flavours hers with raspberry, strawberry or red currant fruit water and also provides recipes for banana ice cream, lemon water ice, pineapple ice, raspberry ice and strawberry ice cream. I will confine myself here to the recipes for ices first and the iced pudding second.

Ices:

[For every pint of fruit juice mixture (aka fruit water) allow 1 pint of syrup]

• Firstly, one must make a fruit water.  Select ripe fruit, pick off stalks and put into a pan with a little sugar strewed over. Stir mixture about with a wooden spoon until it is well broken, then rub it through a hair sieve.  
• Make a syrup by combining 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water in a small saucepan and allowing mixture to simmer over medium to high heat until sugar is dissolved (about 5 minutes).  Remove from heat, let it cool, add the fruit water, mix well together and put the mixture into a freezing pan.  When frozen, put it into small glasses or plates.  

Cook's Tips:

For an elegant serving method, a loaf shaped cake tin may be used if you do not have a decorative jelly or cake mould or glass serving bowls.  Serve slices cut with a very sharp knife on plates for an elegant presentation.

Additions such as aromatics: mint, lemon mint, chocolate mint, spearmint, other fresh herbs, cinnamon sticks, vanilla beans, cardamom, cacao nibs, fresh lemongrass, fresh ginger, lavender, jasmine, coconut, rosewater or any other aromatic ingredient may be swirled into the mixture before freezing.*

Liqueurs such as wine, Cointreau, champagne, prosecco or Spanish Cavacrème de menthe or triple sec may also be included in the mixture prior to freezing.

Iced Pudding:

INGREDIENTS: 1/2 lb of sweet almonds, 2 oz. of bitter ones, 3/4 lb of sugar, 8 eggs, 1 and 1/2 pints milk, a few slices of citron or preserved cherries.

Blanch and dry the almonds thoroughly in a cloth, then pound them in a mortar until reduced to a smooth paste; add to these the eggs, well beaten, the sugar and milk; stir these ingredients over the fire until they thicken, but do not allow them to boil; then strain and put the mixture into the freezing pot and freeze it.  When quite frozen, fill an iced-pudding mould, put on the lid and keep the pudding in ice until required for table; then turn it out on the dish.  This pudding may be flavoured with vanilla, curacao or maraschino.

*Further flavour suggestions:
- Pink Grapefruit, Tarragon with Vodka
- Key Lime
- Bittersweet Chocolate
- Lime Basil
- Strawberry with Black Pepper
- Lemonade
- Iced Tea (made with English Breakfast Tea which forms the 'fruit water')
- Cherry (made with Cherry Jam)
- Rhubarb
- Orange
- Limoncello-Mint
- Buttermilk
- French Martini (Pineapple juice (3 cups) Lemon juice (1/4 cup) Chambord (1/4 cup) Vodka (2 tblspns)
- Spicy Lemon (2 tblspns finely chopped crystallized ginger, 1/4 tblspn white pepper added to previously made Lemon Sorbet)
- Mango Tequila
- Early Grey with Chocolate
- Peach, Watermelon and Cranberry
- Port and Plum
- Hibiscus Tea with Rosewater
- Watermelon with Rosewater, Mint Leaves or Rose Petals & Coconut Cream (optional)

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