Junket (dessert)
Encyclopedia
Junket is a milk
-based dessert, made with sweetened milk and rennet
, the digestive enzyme
which curdles milk. It might best be described as a custard or a very soft, sweetened cheese.
To make junket, milk (usually with sugar
and vanilla
added) is heated to approximately body temperature and the rennet, which has been dissolved in water, is mixed in to cause the milk to "set
". (Temperature variations will inactivate the enzyme in the rennet, causing the dessert to fail.) The dessert is chilled prior to serving. Junket is often served with a sprinkling of grated nutmeg
on top. For most of the 20th century in the eastern United States
, junket was often a preferred food for ill children, mostly due to its sweetness and ease of digestion.
The same was true in England where, in mediaeval times, junket had been a food of the nobility made with cream, not milk, and flavored with rosewater and spices as well as sugar. It started to fall from favour during the Tudor era, being replaced by syllabub
s on fashionable banqueting tables and, by the 18th century, had become an everyday food sold in the streets. By the mid-20th century it was little eaten except by convalescing children and in south-western England.
In the United States, junket is commonly made with a prepackaged mix of rennet and sweetener from a company eponymously known as Junket
.
The word's etymology is uncertain. It is clearly related to the Norman
jonquette (a kind of cream made with boiled milk, egg yolks, sugar and caramel). However it may derive from the Italian
giuncata or directly from the medieval Latin
juncata. The first recorded use (in this sense) is in "The boke of nurture, folowyng Englondis gise".
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
-based dessert, made with sweetened milk and rennet
Rennet
Rennet is a complex of enzymes produced in any mammalian stomach to digest the mother's milk, and is often used in the production of cheese. Rennet contains many enzymes, including a proteolytic enzyme that coagulates the milk, causing it to separate into solids and liquid...
, the digestive enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
which curdles milk. It might best be described as a custard or a very soft, sweetened cheese.
To make junket, milk (usually with sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
and vanilla
Vanilla
Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...
added) is heated to approximately body temperature and the rennet, which has been dissolved in water, is mixed in to cause the milk to "set
Congelation
Congelation is the process by which something congeals, or thickens. This increase in viscosity can be achieved through a reduction in temperature or through chemical reactions. Sometimes the increase in viscosity is great enough to crystallize or solidify the substance in question.In alchemy,...
". (Temperature variations will inactivate the enzyme in the rennet, causing the dessert to fail.) The dessert is chilled prior to serving. Junket is often served with a sprinkling of grated nutmeg
Nutmeg
The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...
on top. For most of the 20th century in the eastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, junket was often a preferred food for ill children, mostly due to its sweetness and ease of digestion.
The same was true in England where, in mediaeval times, junket had been a food of the nobility made with cream, not milk, and flavored with rosewater and spices as well as sugar. It started to fall from favour during the Tudor era, being replaced by syllabub
Syllabub
Syllabub is a traditional English dessert, popular from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. It is usually made from rich milk or cream seasoned with sugar and lightly curdled with wine. Mrs Beeton gives two recipes...
s on fashionable banqueting tables and, by the 18th century, had become an everyday food sold in the streets. By the mid-20th century it was little eaten except by convalescing children and in south-western England.
In the United States, junket is commonly made with a prepackaged mix of rennet and sweetener from a company eponymously known as Junket
Junket (company)
Junket is a company that made prepackaged powdered dessert mixes and ingredients for making various curdled, milk-based foods, such as rennet custard, ice cream and rennet tablets. In 1874, Christian Hansen founded Hansen's Laboratorium in Denmark to make rennet extract for the cheesemaking...
.
The word's etymology is uncertain. It is clearly related to the Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
jonquette (a kind of cream made with boiled milk, egg yolks, sugar and caramel). However it may derive from the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
giuncata or directly from the medieval Latin
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
juncata. The first recorded use (in this sense) is in "The boke of nurture, folowyng Englondis gise".