Lemon Posset Recipe - The Recipe Critic (2024)

FAQs

Why is my lemon posset not thickening? ›

🍮Why your posset may not be thickening

Make sure that you heat the cream long enough - 5 minutes of simmering is what you need. It will darken in color slightly and become a yellow color. Lastly, make sure that the posset has enough time to set in the fridge! It needs to set for at least 1 hour.

Lush but light, lemon posset is a creamy dessert that sidesteps all of the usual requirements of a custard. It contains no eggs nor starch nor gelatin.

So, what is lemon posset (pronounced paa·suht)? It originates from Great Britain and goes back a few hundred years as it started as a warm drink. Milk was curdled with ale, cider or sherry and was said to have restorative properties. One fun fact that I learned was that possets were mentioned in Shakespeare's plays!

posset noun [C or U] (FOOD)

a sweet food made from milk or cream with other things such as sugar, lemon, or wine added to it: For dessert we had lemon posset.

Only heavy whipping cream (double cream) will work for this easy lemon posset. If you use anything else, the posset will be runny. If you want to mix it up, you could also try this recipe with lime zest and lime juice for lime posset, or use oranges for orange posset.

If you have either not enough buffers (fat and sugar) or happen to have an extraordinarily sour lemon, you will get curdling. The recipe I linked also suggests partly evaporating the cream, which will be further help against curdling, but it should work without it too.

What's the Difference Between Posset and Panna Cotta? Both posset and panna cotta are cream-based desserts, but there is a key difference between the two. Whereas panna cotta uses gelatin to thicken and set, posset relies entirely on the citric acid found in lemon juice and other citrus fruits.

Benefits of Posset Syrup

Posset Syrup is a combination medicine that effectively relieves symptoms of common cold such as blocked nose, runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, and congestion or stuffiness. It helps to loosen thick mucus, making it easier to cough out. This makes it easier for air to move in and out.

So you could use lemon juice and still have a "plain" meringue. It is also possible to use another mildly-flavoured acid, such as white wine vinegar, (apple) cider vinegar or cream of tartar. The amount you would use would be the same regardless of which alternative you use.

Due to its reputation as an aphrodisiac, some couples received posset on their wedding night. Although varying posset recipes abound, the most common formula called for milk or heavy cream, sugar, spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg, and a significant quantity of sack, a sweet fortified wine.

Why is it called posset? ›

In 14th and 15th century cookery manuals, a possibly-related word, spelled variously "possenet", "postnet", or "posnet", is used to mean a small pot or saucepan. In 16th-century and later sources, possets are generally made from lemon or other citrus juice, cream and sugar. Eggs are often added.

(1) to posset was to make a thick beverage, called posset, by adding some acidic alcohol (ale or wine) and spices to hot milk.

British Dictionary definitions for posset

posset. / (ˈpɒsɪt) / noun. a drink of hot milk curdled with ale, beer, etc, flavoured with spices, formerly used as a remedy for colds.

In 1888, Thomas Austin recycled a pair of late medieval cook books. Within their pages was a 14th–15th Century drink known as a 'posset. ' This drink is similar to the point of indistinguishable from syllabub. Syllabub was a loose drink of curdled cream in which the solids were allowed to rise to the surface.

posset {intransitive verb}

volume_up. 1. " baby"

If you're finding even after hours in the fridge, your possets are still not set, then try removing the mixture from their ramekins, putting it in a jug and pouring in some cold double cream – stirring as you go. You should see the mixture instantly thicken, so go easy on how much you pour in.

For a lemon filling that's glossy and translucent, and firm enough to cut yet melts in your mouth, cornstarch is the thickener of choice.

Tips: Before you add the acid, stir the milk so that the milk is moving when you add the acid. Don't stir the milk after you add the acid. Turn off the heat and wait up to 15 minutes for the curdle. It doesn't happen immediately.

It was time for the secret weapon: lemon juice. Turns out, the acidity of the juice acts as a thickening agent, which reacts with the proteins in the dairy to increase the viscosity. It's a similar concept to adding vinegar to milk to make buttermilk, said Clark.