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Raspberry Ice

A chilled gelatin dessert made with raspberries, lemon juice, sugar, water, gelatin, and folded egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Raspberry Ice

Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Raspberry Ice

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Boil 2 cups of water with 1½ cups of sugar for 3 minutes.

  2. Pour the hot mixture over 1 tablespoon of gelatin mixed with ¼ cup of cold water. Stir well until dissolved.

  3. Add 1 quart of mashed red raspberries and the juice of 2 lemons.

  4. Strain the mixture and let it cool.

Finish and freeze

  1. Fold in the 4 beaten egg whites.

  2. Freeze until solid.

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 + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

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

  5. Gelatin + lemontop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,215 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped egg whites add air and a light, airy texture to the frozen mixture.
Gelatin
Sets the liquid so the ice holds its shape and stays smooth rather than icy.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice softer.
Red raspberries
Provide the main flavour, colour and fruit acidity of the ice.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the raspberry flavour and balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Dissolving the gelatin in the hot syrup. Gelatin must fully dissolve in the hot sugar mixture; undissolved granules leave gritty or rubbery spots after freezing. Stirring well ensures an even set.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, gelatin, 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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