Lime Possets With Mint and Mango Fruit Salad Recipe

I’ve written right here as soon as earlier than about my love of creamy issues, which fully eclipses my want for candy issues. Unsweetened whipped cream? Give it to me! Sweet? Nah… Sweetened whipped cream? I will take it (so long as the cream is there). I do not care what it’s—crème anglaise, panna cotta, fools—if cream is concerned, I am all in.

No Eggs, No Gelatin, No Starch

When you’re in any respect like me, then you need to think about including possets* to your creamy dessert repertoire. Extremely straightforward to make, the one factor you want for posset is the time to permit it to thicken and set; a minimum of a number of hours and ideally in a single day. One of the best half is definitely threefold: They do not use eggs like custards do (and subsequently do not include the chance of unintentionally scrambling the egg by overcooking it), they do not require gelatin as, say, panna cotta does, and so they do not name for a single sort of starch to behave as a thickener. The magic ingredient? Citrus juice.

*A observe on terminology: posset, as soon as upon a time, was a heat, thick, creamy beverage made with wine or ale, and served not simply as a deal with however as a treatment for poor well being. In the present day, posset often refers back to the citrus-juice thickened pudding I am writing about right here, although some would argue that that is technically a variant of a syllabub, which is yet one more number of dairy thickened with an acidic fluid like wine or cider. Oh what enjoyable British desserts are!

The Magic of Citrus

The mechanics behind a posset are quite simple: Simmer cream with sugar till the sugar is dissolved, then add citrus juice, which thickens the cream right into a pudding-like texture because it chills. The flavour is sweet-tart, sort of like a Creamsicle. Lemon and lime are the most typical forms of citrus utilized in possets, since they’re on the upper finish of the acidic spectrum* (or, for those who’re it from the pH-scale POV the place smaller numbers point out extra acidity, it’d technically be the decrease finish). Orange alone won’t be acidic sufficient by itself, however you would do a combo of orange and lemon or lime to get the acidity excessive sufficient to coagulate the cream.

*When you’re interested in why citrus juice works to thicken the cream, it is the identical precept as yogurt, crème fraîche, and acid-coagulated cheeses like Indian paneer. Particularly, the acid causes tight little clusters of the milk protein referred to as casein, which usually keep away from one another, to interrupt aside after which re-bond right into a web-like construction that solidifies the dairy. Within the case of yogurt and crème fraîche, it is lactic acid produced by micro organism that causes the thickening, however with posset it is simply the straightforward addition of citrus juice.

Past that, the flavoring is completely as much as you. You’ll be able to add grated citrus zest, as I did within the recipe right here, or infuse the cream with different aromatics, like lemongrass, kaffir/makrut lime leaves, or spices. A tiny splash of an fragrant water like orange flower water or rose water can be good too, assuming you want floral flavors.

Right here, I served it with a quite simple mango and mint fruit salad and a dollop of whipped cream. That is proper: In my e book, a dessert made nearly completely of cream can certainly be improved with but extra cream on high.

August 2014

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