“The stew was fiery hot, Hotah knew, though he tasted none of it. Sherbet followed, to cool the tongue.” (aDwD)
Sherbet
Our Thoughts:
Unable to decide which recipes to use, we tried three of them. We’ll start with the modern and work our way back in time.
Modern is YUM. The tang of the Greek yogurt pairs deliciously with the sweetness of the pom juice. This version took the longest to freeze, but was lovely and scoopable once it was.
The Oldish recipe is the most pomegranatey, having the most unadulterated juice in it. We tried molding it, which worked reasonably well, although might do better with a silicone mold.
The Traditional Sharbat is the strangest of the three, but I have a feeling that is just due to the recipe we used. We’ve had sharbat that was delicious, but sadly, this one falls short of expectations. The almond milk would better suit a fruit (haha!) like apricots, I think, rather than the pomegranate.
Verdict? We liked the first two about the same, and the traditional version not so much. Sherbet in just about any form, and any flavor, though, is just perfect on a hot summer day.
**Cook’s Notes: If you have an ice cream maker, the first two recipes will be wildly easier for you to make than the rest of us. However, they are still very doable without one.**
Modern Sherbet Recipe
*Cook’s Note: The preparation time for this recipe, without an ice cream maker, is around forever. Or a day.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
- 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
- pinch salt
- pinch ground cardamom
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
In a small saucepan, heat the pomegranate juice on low. Add the sugar and salt. Stir gently until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Transfer the juice mixture to a bowl and refrigerate until completely chilled. Stir in the yogurt.
If you have an ice cream maker, pour mixture into that and use as instructed. If not, place bowl in freezer and occasionally stir; ours had to freeze overnight.
Oldish Sherbet Recipe
This recipe comes from an old 1800s cookbook, by one Mrs. Rorer. My copy has delightful handwritten recipes in looping cursive, as well as straightforward, old-timey directions for coloring one’s pistachio ice cream green using clover, or lawn grass if no clover is readily available. Also, most of the ingredients are listed not by cups, but by pounds. As in, one pound of butter. That’s how you know it’s good. :)
- ~6 pomegranates, or 1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg white
- 1 Tbs powdered sugar
Peel the pomegranates, and press the pulp through a sieve, reserving a few seeds for garnishing. Add the sugar to the juice and stir until dissolved. If using seeds, add 1/2 water. Place mixture in ice cream maker and follow those instructions.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, place your sherbet mix in the freezer in a bowl, stirring occasionally. This will take a long time!
When the mixture is frozen pretty hard, take it from the freezer. In a separate bowl, whip the egg white into a froth, then add the powdered sugar and beat until it forms peaks. Stir this sugary egg mixture into your sherbet, mix all together, and place back in the freezer. We spent about half a day working on getting ours to freeze, then let it sit in the mold overnight.
**Yes, this recipe can also be used in a mold! Just pack the final mixture into your mold and freeze. When you’re ready to serve, turn the mold over onto a plate. If the sherbet doesn’t come out right away, you can either let it sit for a few moments at room temperature, or dip the bottom of the mold in cold water. Never use hot water!**
Traditional Sharbat Recipe
Sharbat is more of a drink than a dessert, but it can’t be beat for its cool and refreshing nature on hot summer days.
- 1/3 cup combined cashews, pistachios and almonds, finely crushed
- 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds, or a pinch of ground cardamom
- pinch of ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk or almond milk
- 3 Tbs. sugar or honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup your choice of sexy fruit juice- we used Pomegranate, but consider plum, apricot, mango, blood orange, etc.
In a mortar and pestle, grind the cardamom seeds.
hmmm, I’ve made a mango sorbet and a kiwi-lime sorbet, but a lot of time they crystalize on me. I think I need to try this modern sherbert and maybe even adapt the yougurt add-in to the mango. So many recipes, so little time!!
The Sharbat recipe sounds like Horchata, but with fruit juice added.
I’ve just tried the Modern Recipe (substituting cinnamon for cardamom) and it’s wonderful- tart and refreshing and complicated on the tongue. Great stuff! I found I didn’t stir it enough to get something truly scoopable- I ended up just carving out chunks, but hardly a real flaw.
I’m attempting some adaptations, one with orange juice and cloves, and another with mango and nutmeg. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Beautiful sherbet…linking to it today :)
The modern sherbet recipe comes out wonderfully and is the new family dessert of choice! I’ve made the pomegranate, pineapple/mango, orange, and grape. The cardamom seems to be the secret ingredient that makes them all come out fabulous. That and frequent stirring while it’s freezing! The orange was delicious, but the grape was so amazing and such a hit that I ran out of sherbet because everyone was going back for seconds! I’m going to have to double the recipe!
Thank you so much for posting this!
Actually, throughout the Middle East sherbets or sharbats are cool drinks, plain and simple. They’ve always existed but gained a special place in the regional cuisine after the advent of Islam and banning of alcoholic beverages. That was contemporaneous to Medieval Europe. Take a look at Najmieh Batmanglij’s New Food of Life. She includes several recipes for sharbat syrups that combine everything from cucumber, vinegar and rose petals to sour cherry and lime juices. She also has a book on vegetarian Silk Road cuisine. Cuisine in that region still maintains many of the sweet/sour combinations common in the Middle Ages and could prove inspirational for some of the more exotic Meerenese or Qarthian dishes.
Good luck with the new book!
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve had a drink sharbat, and loved it. That was absolutely what I imagined the more traditional version to be like, but couldn’t find a reliable recipe for one. I’ll definitely take a look at that book, and am especially keen to try the sour cherry version. YUM.
I tried this today! It was really good! I used orange juice because I know I love it and I’m not a massive fan of pomegranate (but will try it in future). I used small mugs rather than cups as that’s what I have to hand.
I found that once it had started to get a bit too hard in the freezer, I could put it in the fridge again to soften up about an hour before I wanted it. It worked well.
There’s plenty left for tomorrow and seeing as the yoghurt will have to be used up within a couple of days I may have to make some more for in the week (it’s totally worth it!)
One thing I will say is that the name confused me slightly. In England sherbet is something totally different. To us, this is sorbet :-)
Hello, I’d like to ask this because i have an issue with the availability of pomegranate in my country… i live in a tropical asian country, but i’d like to make a GoT sherbet that stays true to what you make on the GoT blog. what sort of fruit/s or fruit combination could i use instead of pomegranate?
The blood orange or lemon would be _very_ Dornish- but I’d like to try a cherry, sugar plum (I had sugar plums at Christmas, & I want to see what recipes would suit them), or even pomegranate mixed with one of them…