Name: Knock Sherbet
Ingredients: 1 teaspoonful essence of lemon well together; 3 pints boiling water; 2 table- spoonfuls to a tumbler of water makes a refreshing summer drink

Knock Sherbet

A chilled lemon-flavored sweet drink made with lemon essence, citric acid, sugar, and boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription

Knock Sherbet

Ingredients

1 teaspoonful essence of lemon well together
3 pints boiling water
2 table- spoonfuls to a tumbler of water makes a refreshing summer drink

Directions

Make the syrup

Mix 1 oz. citric acid and 1 teaspoonful essence of lemon well together.
Dissolve 4 lb. loaf sugar in 3 pints boiling water.
Add the acid mixture to the sugar water.
Stir well, bottle, and cork.

Serve

Add 2 tablespoonfuls to a tumbler of water to make a refreshing summer drink.

By Hamilton, Margaret. 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. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Citric acid (in the method): Provides the sharp, sour flavour that gives sherbet its tang.
Loaf sugar (in the method): Provides sweetness and body to the drink once dissolved in the boiling water.

“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.