No, it’s not ice cream, but it is called Lemon Sherbet:

  • 4.0 lemons
  • 1.5 cups granulated sugar
  • 12 ounces lemon juice
Prepare an oleo-saccharum with the lemon peels and sugar. In a small saucepan, combine the oleo-saccharum and lemon juice over medium heat, but do not boil. Slowly stir to dissolve the sugar. When the syrup has thickened, remove from the heat. Strain through a chinois into bottles. The sherbet will keep for 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Okay, this ingredient is used in cocktails from the Dead Rabbit book, but don’t be thrown by fancy words like “oleo-saccharum”. It’s just Latin for “smush up a bunch of citrus peels in sugar”.

A lot of the flavor of citrus fruit is in the peel. That is why it is so important in drinks like the Hanky Panky to express the oils out over the surface of the drink. It isn’t just for garnish. So it only makes sense that by muddling sugar and peels together, you can get more of the citrus flavor out of the fruit.

Be sure to avoid including any of the white pith, which is bitter. I use a vegetable peeler and take my time. Drop the peels into the sugar and smash ’em up, and then let stand for at least 30 minutes.

I dumped the whole thing into a sauce pot and added the juice, and the peels got removed when I strained it. It is very, very tasty and has a strong, concentrated lemon flavor.

This recipe should make 24 ounces, but I knew that I wouldn’t be using that much, so I halved it. You will need more lemons for the juice (I think I used about four total).

Lemon Sherbet