Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (2024)

by RetroRuth | Jun 1, 2016 | , Desserts, The BEST | 10 comments

It’s been hot around here lately, so this week we decided to make a frozen treat.

This is milk sherbet.

Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (2)AuthorRetroRuth
Rating

Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (3)

From Food for Home and Trade, Girls' Trades and Technical High School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1942

Tested Recipe!

4 cups whole milk

Juice of 3 lemons

1 ½ cups sugar

1

Mix juice and sugar, add milk slowly, stirring constantly (if milk is added too rapidly the mixture will have a curdles appearance). Freeze, using 6 to 8 parts ice to one part rock salt. (We halved the recipe and made it in a modern ice cream maker.)
Yield: Approximately 3 pt. sherbet

Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (5)

CategoryDesserts, Ice Cream and SorbetCooking MethodFrozenTags#lemonjuice, #sugar, #wholemilk

Directions

1

Mix juice and sugar, add milk slowly, stirring constantly (if milk is added too rapidly the mixture will have a curdles appearance). Freeze, using 6 to 8 parts ice to one part rock salt. (We halved the recipe and made it in a modern ice cream maker.)
Yield: Approximately 3 pt. sherbet

Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (6)

Milk Sherbet

IngredientsDirections

This recipe comes from a book that I received for my birthday from Tom’s folks. It’s called Food for Home and Trade and it is a textbook/cookbook from the Girls’ Trades and Technical High School in Milwaukee Wisconsin from 1942. I love this book!! I’m a big fan of home economics cookbooks in general, but I am especially excited about this one. I’ve done a quick once-over, but it deserves a much closer look. Not only does it give directions and specifications (doneness, color, texture) for food, but it also gives the reasons why they need to be served that way. I’m very interested in their reasons and standards for gelatin molds.

In any case, I decided to give the ice cream maker a workout this week and I was really interested to see if this mixture would curdle when mixed together. Tom came and looked over my shoulder while I was mixing.

“Are you mixing milk and a bunch of lemon juice?”

“Yep”

“There is no way this is going to work.”

“We’ll see, I guess.”

“How is it?”

See Also
Recipe This | Instant Pot Homemade Rolo Yoghurt

“Delicious!”

The Verdict: Delicious

From the Tasting Notes –

This was surprisingly good, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it is actually genius. I really enjoy the lemon ice smoothies at Culver’s, which are basically frozen lemonade and custard mixed together. This milk sherbet tastes a lot like those, but is much simpler to make. It was sweet and very mild. Tasted a little bit like frozen yogurt because of the slight tang. Not creamy, more of a crystalline texture. The lemon flavor is mostly absorbed by the whole milk. Alex said it “Tastes really good,” so it also got her vote. Woulc be excellent with fresh berries.

*Note: This mixes together and froze well, but it did curdle when it became melty. So do not let this melt and try to refreeze it!

  1. Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (10)

    Becky Ton June 1, 2016 at 10:56 am

    Well Heck…. now I have to go dig out the ice cream maker!
    This looks way to good (and simple) to miss

  2. Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (11)

    Beth Anneon June 1, 2016 at 11:48 am

    This sounds quite good! We are having out of town guests in a couple of weeks and I might have to make this for them!

  3. Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (12)

    Beckyon June 1, 2016 at 8:45 pm

    That does look good. I may try to find that book!

  4. Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (13)

    Lynn Baconon June 1, 2016 at 9:35 pm

    Great recipe! I grew up with a similar sherbet…made in a hand-cranked freezer for many years until we got an electric one! I still make it, and receive raves from everyone! It tastes like childhood to me. Orangeade, lemon juice, pineapple juice, sugar, evaporated milk, whole milk. It is crisp, tangy, and light while also creamy.

  5. Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (14)

    Poppyon June 2, 2016 at 2:54 pm

    I hope you post more from that book. I love old home ec textbooks too, but I haven’t had much luck finding them. Just picked up one from 1927 at Half Price Books last weekend, so I’m digging into it now.

  6. Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (15)

    zydnyon June 6, 2016 at 10:22 am

    This sounds kinda like the delicious lemon ice cream that my neighbors make with their homegrown Meyer lemons.

    I’m curious about the “whole” milk, though. In 1942, that would have meant milk as it came from the cow–in other words, milk with cream. Wonder how that would change the results. Could be even tastier!.

  7. Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (16)

    Rachelon June 15, 2016 at 2:24 pm

    Going to try this recipe. If you love old cookbooks, give http://www.gutenberg.org a try. They tend to have older cookbooks from the turn of the century, but I’ve spent HOURS poring over these great recipes. 🙂

  9. Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (18)

    Alan Con June 20, 2016 at 3:38 pm

    What kind of ice cream maker did you use? We have a Kitchenaid ice cream maker and I’m wondering if/how I’d need to alter the recipe.

  10. Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (19)

    Margaret Hallon July 7, 2020 at 11:32 pm

    I grew up with this recipe. Have made it in 4 different freezers. Won 3 ice creAm freeze offs with it.. We love it topped with blueberries and served with homemade gingersnaps.

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Milk Sherbet, 1942–A Mid-Century Recipe Test - Mid-Century Menu (2024)
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