Author Topic: Junket (Read 7377 times)

arobwk · « **on:** February 07, 2021, 04:42:34 pm »

It is so so long since I have had a dish of junket with a nutmeg and home-made crusty-cream topping and with (Jacobs) cream crackers.
I can't personally be bothered to make it (although I do tend to routinely end up with slightly stale milk which could be usefully converted into a dish of curd) and my 90 yr old mother not able to manage such stuff any-more.

Out of passing interest, is anyone still doing something similar for desert ? (Little Miss Muffet style)

Fleecewife · « **Reply #1 on:** February 07, 2021, 05:38:53 pm »

I've never had it.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #2 on:** February 07, 2021, 08:03:06 pm »

I loved it as a child, and it was one of the few ways my mother could get me to take any milk.

I did make some from Plenty's milk when I was in Cumbria. It was awesome

. We don't have a lot of milk to spare at present, but we should have loads come spring when the calves get weaned and the grass starts growing. Thanks for the reminder!

Anke · « **Reply #3 on:** February 07, 2021, 09:13:12 pm »

I don't know if the junket we had as kids in Germany is the same as what is known as that in the UK. Ours was simply milk that was left to go sour and a bit thick, and we ate it with sugar sprinkled on top.... but you cannot make it from pasteurised and homogenised milk, that just goes off....

I now make kefir all the time from our raw goatsmilk, similar taste, but quite fizzy. I am addicted to it!

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #4 on:** February 08, 2021, 02:13:22 pm »

According to Wiki, junket is made with milk and rennet, usually with sugar and sometimes other flavourings added. Rennet will curdle milk that is pasteurised and / or homogenised, and it would have been pasteurised milk we used when I was a kid.

The junket I made from Plenty's milk was unpasteurised and unhomogenised, but to get what I would call junket, I did add rennet. I didn't add any sugar, flavourings or colourings, as I liked it just like that. And no culture was used, it was just fresh or slightly aged milk, plus rennet.

I could also make a curd cheese from Hillie's untreated milk (the one from Plenty's milk was not as good). Initially without adding any specific culture, but after a while I isolated the naturally occurring culture and used that to get a repeatable result. But that was more of a lactic cheese than a junket, even though you did get whey coming out when you cut it.

arobwk · « **Reply #5 on:** February 08, 2021, 06:51:57 pm »

Yep, junket from milk (often stale, but not "off") and rennet. I reckon mother (and her mother) sweetened hers.
A dessert requiring careful handling and speedy eating after the 1st spoon-cut or end up with loads of whey: hence each portion was poured into and allowed to set in individual dessert dishes. The nutmeg, home-made thin-crust cream topping (made from a pan of standard whole-fat milk from the milk-man, but sometimes milk from Aunty Bernice's Jersey herd) and the Jacobs crackers were essential ingredients for the dish - never had it any other way.

It is great to hear that the simplest things like various junket-type desserts have not been forgotten & are still on the menu (even if not on mine at the moment).

Something for you to try then @Fleecewife

wildandwooly · « **Reply #6 on:** March 13, 2021, 08:47:59 pm »

Sorry for late reply but only just seen your post! My mum used to make it when we were tiny. She's 87. I'll ask her how she made it. I seem to remember my Granny ( my mum's mum) making it when I stayed with them. I'd forgotten all about it but the word suddenly triggered a memory ( a nice one

)
Happy days