A handbook of invalid cooking

by Mary A. Boland

ICE-CREAM, SHERBETS, AND ICES

For patients suffering with fevers, and for use in very warm weather, good ice-cream and sherbet are most acceptable. They should, however, be used with great care, particularly if the illness be due to disturbance of digestion, for they lower the temperature of the stomach and often cause such disorders as lead to severe illness. Even if this does not happen, they, in order to be raised to a temperature at which digestion will take place, absorb heat from the body, and a person reduced by illness cannot afford to needlessly part with any form of energy.

Sherbet in its literal sense means a cool drink. It is of oriental origin, but in this country it has come to mean a frozen mixture of fruit, or fruit-juice, water and sugar. There is a distinction made, however, between water-ice and sherbet. Sherbet has, in addition to the fruit-juice and water, either sugar-syrup, white of egg, or gelatine, to give it sufficient viscousness to entangle and hold air when beaten in a freezer, so that sherbets (unless colored by the fruit used) will be white and opaque like snow. Water-ices, on the contrary, are made without the white of egg, syrup, or gelatine, do not entangle air, and are translucent and what might be called "watery." Both are delicious when made with fresh, ripe fruit, and both may be enriched by the addition of sweet cream if desired.

Freezers. Of the various kinds of freezers perhaps the "Improved White Mountain Freezer" is, everything considered, as good as any. It is strong and freezes quickly when the salt and ice are properly proportioned.

It is well to study the gearing before attempting to use a freezer. The different parts should be taken apart and put together until it is understood how the machine works. See that the paddles in the can do not interfere with each other, and that the crank turns easily. Then put all together again, fasten down the crank-bar across the top of the can, and have everything in readiness before packing the freezer with salt and ice. The object in using the salt is to get a greater degree of cold than could be obtained with the ice alone. The affinity of salt for water is very great—so great, that it will break down the structure of ice in its eagerness for it. Heat is involved in this process of melting, and will be drawn from surrounding objects, from the can, the bucket, the cream, and even the ice itself. The more rapid the union of salt and ice, the more heat is absorbed, consequently the greater is the degree of cold and the quicker the mixture to be frozen will become solid.

Water is converted into steam by a certain amount of heat. Ice is transformed into water by the same agency, and in the case of the ice-cream freezer heat is drawn from whatever comes in contact with the ice that is warmer than itself. If the melting of the ice can be hastened in any way, the abstraction of heat will be correspondingly greater; hence the use of salt, which is so eager for water that it takes it even in the form of ice. Now it will be easily seen that if the ice is in small pieces, and there is the proper amount of salt for each piece, union between the two will be immediate, the amount of heat used will be very great, consequently the degree of cold will be great. Cold is only a less degree of heat.

Ordinary liquid mixtures that contain a large percentage of water become solid when reduced to a temperature of 32° Fahr.

To Pack an Ice-Cream Freezer. Break a quantity of ice into small pieces by pounding it in an ice-bag (a bag made of canvas or very strong cloth) with a wooden mallet. The ice should be about as fine as small rock-salt. Put into the bucket, around the tin can which is to hold the cream, alternate layers of the pounded ice and salt in the proportions of two thirds ice to one third salt (a quart cup may be used for measuring). Should it happen that you have "coarse-fine" salt, put all the ice into the freezer first, and then the salt on top of it, as it will quickly work down to the bottom. When the packing is complete unfasten the cross-bar and lift off the cover of the can carefully, so that no salt shall get inside; then put in the mixture to be frozen, replace the cover, and fasten the bar. Let it stand till the mixture is thoroughly chilled, then turn steadily but not very fast for about ten minutes, or until the turning becomes difficult; that is an indication that the contents of the can are freezing. Continue turning for a few minutes longer, to give the cream a fine and even consistency; then take out the paddle, drain off the water through the hole in the side of the bucket, fill in all about the can with coarse ice, and cover it with a thick wet cloth or towel. Let it stand for half an hour to become firm, when it is ready to serve. If it is desirable to keep the ice-cream for a length of time, it may be done by packing the freezer closely with ice and salt, and covering it with wet cloths. Or, the ice-cream may be taken from the can, packed in molds of fanciful shapes, sealed at the edges with melted tallow, and repacked in ice and salt.