The cold, lemon, 2-content dessert that I can repeat every summer

I don’t remember the first time that I had water ice. It is not a kind of “first bite”. It is a recurring summer strike that melts into the next afternoon in every hot afternoon of your childhood until you cannot separate one from the next. What I Do Remember that my children’s scabbing on the sidewalk is outside of Johns or Pops in South Philly. My paper cup sweats in my hand, the lemon ice cream inside is already softer on the edges. I would dig in with a small plastic spoon and chase the coldest bite that I could find before everything collapsed into a puddle made of sweet, mushy gold.

Most of the time I had a soft Philly pretzel on the other hand – a small salt to compensate for the sweetness. The rough turn of dough, soft and weakly tough made the ice even colder – it is a classic Philly combination. Water ice was not a pleasure in my house. It was a necessity. A coping mechanism for 90 ° August afternoons without central air and without plans to leave our neighborhood in South Philly. Sure, we met Rita’s when we felt chic and at the top of Pudding-but the real gemstones were the family-run places where only “water ice” in block letters was told on a plywood sign and served them in Dixie Cups. That was all we needed.

If you are new to Philadelphia, you may be tried to express it “water ice”. Not. It is WOODER ICE. Tell me: “Can I get a little lemon wood?” Now you are part of the club.

But I no longer live in Philly and can’t just go down the block to get a ball. The next Rita is a 45-minute drive that is not feasible for me regularly. After years of the socket, I finally realized something: Wasser ice is ridiculously easy to make at home. It only requires three ingredients, sugar and water and it is about as high as summer desserts. What surprised me the most was not just like feasible, but how much better it tasted than I remembered. The fresh lemon juice in homemade water ice gives a bright, floral, sour edge, which even gives the best versions produced in the shops for your money. It is more fertile, lively and more customizable.

Now, instead of leaving the house for it, I have hidden a loaf of lemon water in the freezer all summer. It is one of the best things I did for my homesick Philly heart.

What is water ice?

Water ice can be confusing for outsiders. Is it sorbet? Granita? Italian ice? A snow cone? (Yes and no.) The texture distinguishes you. It is not scaly like Granita or crispy like a snow cone – it is more smooth, muddy and spoon. After sitting in the summer heat for a few minutes, it should be blurry with just enough resistance to keep things refreshing. It is the texture that you follow when you sweat through your shirt on a block party and need something cold.

Water Ice brought roots to Philadelphia in the Sorbetti in the Sorbetti in the Sorbetti in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But in true Philly fashion, the city gave him a new name, a new texture and a new place in the culture of the city. It became something that they packed in flip-flops after dinner or were asked by school on their way home: so essentially for Philly Summers as Hoagies, Fireworks and argue where they can park.

Ask five Philadelphians about your favorite water ice taste, and you will probably receive five answers: lemon, cherry, mango, pineapple and chocolate (it is so good, trust me!). For me it was always lemon. It is the original, and if a place can not make lemon right – Bright, balanced, icy, without being calcareous – it is not worth the trip.

How to make smooth, creative water ice at home

As mentioned above, water ice is incredibly simple in the core: only fruit, water and sugar. But as with many simple recipes, it is also difficult to nail. The taste has to beat hard – poly, sour and citrian – but does not turn into bitterness. And the texture has to be without icebergs, without granular sugar and definitely without frozen blocks. The goal is a kind of semi-frozen balance cold and icy enough to keep its shape, soft enough to draw, and smooth enough to melt on your tongue.

To get there, the key is in balance between sugar and water. Too much water and the mixture freezes from Steinhart. Too much sugar and it becomes syrupy and soft, like a lemon lush. The sugar does not only do it here; It manipulates the structure.

On the molecular level, the sugar lowers the freezing point of the mixture when they dissolve and freeze sugar in water. This is good – it slows down ice crystal growth and helps you to achieve this fine, smooth texture. But they need enough sugar to do something without lending themselves into the exposure sweet territory. Balance is the key.

In my tests, the Sweet Spot (literally) had a cup of two tablespoons of sugar per two cups of water and the juice of eight fresh lemons. I also add a pinch of salt to sharpen the taste and tame every bitterness of the lemon peel.

And yes, you need an ice machine with this recipe. House cooks often ask if you can freeze water ice in a loaf pan and stir every half an hour. The answer? Not if you want the real offer. The water ice in the Philadelphia style receives its characteristic texture by constantly searching through a paddle in an industrial machine. Your ice cream maker uses this process and scratches the sides while the mix is freezing to break ice crystals before they become too big. This movement is crucial. Without them, their mixture could taste great, but it will never really feel.

A note to the lemons

Use freshness. I know you know that, but I’m still saying it. Do not grab the plastic squeezing bottle. This recipe uses the entire lemon – a small amount of bowl for aromatic oils and the meat for a natural balance between juice and cellulator. The fruits are chopped and mixed, tense and combined with water to achieve the desired dilution to achieve real lemon taste – breaks, bitter, sweet, floral and only a little powerful. If your lemons are particularly sharp, you can choose the bowl when the mixture deals. Shortly before the lemon peel is added to the ice machine – in the last minute of the upswing – to do the mixture. If it is very sour, add only half of the bowl or leave it out completely.

How to keep water ice (and when you shovel it)

As soon as the water ice has been thrown, it should go into a chilled loaf pan in the freezer. It is ready after about an hour, although it stays up to four weeks if you firmly cover the container. Remember: the colder it gets, the firmer it gets.

It may not be Johns or Pops, but a ball of it and I’m back on a sowing dough in South Philly, who chases the coldest bite.

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