Italian ice vs. sorbet vs. sherbet

[yesno]

We discussed this in the chat.  Dessert is an important issue to me.  I just did a bunch of research to verify all this.

Italian ice and sorbet are made the same way as ice cream, but with different ingredients. Italian ice is for slobs and is made with syrup or lower quality puree; sorbet is for snobs and is made with higher quality stuff.  They are basically the same thing.

Sherbet has a small amount of dairy, while sorbet has none.  It is basically low dairy, high fruit ice cream.  People and even reference books often confuse the two, but it’s a useful distinction.

Snow cones are shaved ice with flavoring added.  Some places will call snow cones "Italian ice," if you ever see someone doing this, overturn his cart and pour flavor syrup on his head.

Italian ice is called "water ice" within the borders of Philadelphia.  I’ve never seen it called that in NJ (maybe in the Cherry Hill area or south Jersey?) and it’s called "Italian ice" by the time you get to New Hope.

Sherbet is called "sherbert" in some places.

"Schubert dip" is an EMF album.

[Sarah]

Thank god this has been cleared up.

Speaking of sorbet, I'm thinking of making the following, perhaps with the addition of some homemade orange extract (sorry, C-Mo).

Bitter Chocolate Sorbet

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

   1. Mix together the sugar and cocoa. While stirring, add enough hot water to make a thick paste; then add the rest of the water and stir until smooth. Add the vanilla.
   2. Chill until completely cold (refrigerator temperature).
   3. Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. (Will probably take about 15-20 minutes in most machines.)

This makes about one-and-a-half pints.

It's supposed to be delicious.  I think it might be especially good served layered with whipped cream. 

[Emily]

where's the poll?

i vote Italian Ice

[erika]

Why is Italian Ice for slobs?

It's not always made from corn syrup. Sometimes it's a sugar syrup or a fruit puree. And there's nothing wrong with sugar syrup!

[KickTheBobo]

Italian Ice gets my vote.

The best were the ones you'd get with the pull off top (I think they only came in cherry & lemon) and would eat with a wooden spoon. the BEST PART, was when the contents had been scraped away enough to allow you to flip the whole thing over, exposing the sweet syrupy bottom.

[yesno]

Poll added.

I vote Italian ice too, but I still think it's for slobs.  It tastes better, but comes in a paper cup instead of a silver bowl.

[Sarah]

To me, sorbet subsumes Italian ice, so by voting for it I get the best of both worlds.

You should really add granita to the poll to make it more comprehensive.

[erika]

There are also snowballs, which is a Baltimore thing. It's kind of like a snowcone except that the ice chippies are not as smooshed together. It gets more soupy as you eat it. We also top them with marshmallow.

[Martin]

Sorbet.

[dave from knoxville]

Why is Italian Ice for slobs?

It's not always made from corn syrup. Sometimes it's a sugar syrup or a fruit puree. And there's nothing wrong with sugar syrup!

We like to swig the Karo straight from the bottle. Sometimes in vast quantities!!!

[Miss]

Just to spite you, I'm going to continue calling snow cones Italian Ice. Just my way of sticking it to the man.

[dave from knoxville]

I'm calling them Karo Kones

[AllisonLeGnome]

Sherbert sucks. Sorbet wins on quality, but Italian Ice has the edge when the situation in which it is most often eaten is taken into account. I'm also a big fan of sno-cones without syrup, though I think they should give me a discount since I can't imagine the ice is the expensive part of it.

[Sarah]

Homemade sherbet is good, though.  It's the store-bought stuff that usually has a lot of crap in it that makes it lousy.

[erechoveraker]

I'd never had italian ice till I moved to East Coast/Pittsburgh. Now the kids at Rita's know me by name. Jinkies!