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Pineapple Sherbet

A frozen dessert made with pineapple, gelatin, sugar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Pineapple Sherbet

Why it works: Sugar and pineapple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,841 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Pineapple Sherbet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes.

  2. Boil the water and add the sugar.

  3. Stir in the gelatine and boil until dissolved, then strain and cool.

Freeze

  1. Once cool, add the shredded pineapple and freeze.

  2. When almost frozen, stir in the beaten egg whites and freeze for a few more minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + pineappletop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Pineapple + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the mixture so the sherbet holds its shape rather than turning to ice crystals.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the sherbet softer when frozen.
Shredded pineapple
Provides fruit flavour, acidity and moisture to the sherbet.
Egg whites
Beaten in at the end to add airy lightness and a smoother, fluffier texture.

The step that matters

Stir in the beaten egg whites when almost frozen. If the mixture is fully frozen, the beaten whites will not blend in evenly and the sherbet will be dense and lumpy. Folding them in while it is still slushy keeps the mixture light and smooth.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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