pg. 233 Pomegranate and Orange Blossom Water Creams

Oh internet, how I have missed you! My scientific musings have been on the fritz ever since my internet decided it no longer wanted to be a part of my life. But here we are, back with more beautiful iced treats, and botched experiments from beyond the freezer.

My favorite part of this project has matching my experiments with seasonal ingredients. For example, it's pomegranate season, so why not go for it? I thought that this would be a great recipe. But alas, I was proven wrong again. This book thoroughly enjoys making a fool of me, it seems. I mean the recipes just mock me, Biggest gripe? Not enough pomegranate. The heavy cream just mutes everything. And when I added an extra 4 tablespoons of pomegranate juice, all it did was increase the acidity, not the flavor. A little bit of orange blossom water goes quite far, but has a perfume-y flavor that does not work well with the recipe at all.

Pomegranate and Orange Blossom Water Creams

2t. corn flour
1c. milk
2T sugar
2 pomegranates (juiced)
2T orange blossom water
5T grenadine
1c. heavy cream

Simmer the corn flour, milk, and sugar. Chill. Add pomegranate juice, orange flower water, and grenadine. Fold in heavy cream just before churning. Freeze in freezer proof container or silicone muffin tins for a better shape. Garnish with leftover pomegranate seeds.

Frustrated with this failure, I decided to try it again my own way; as a sorbet. This way I wouldn't have to worry about the fat of the cream masking all my flavor, and hopefully my two main ingredients would get their time to shine. When formulating sorbets, I generally try to keep it to a 2/1 ratio of fruit juice or puree to agave or simple syrup.

Pomegranate and Orange Blossom Sorbet
2 pomegranates - juiced (makes approx 1c. juice)
1/2 T. orange blossom water
1/2 c. agave nectar
1/4t. red wine

I whisked everything together and threw it in the ice cream maker. While the flavor was stronger, the combination was still..well..disgusting. I won't lie. It tasted like a perfume, or like I decided to nibble on a flower or something. The texture was fine...and even drizzled with some honey it was bearable...but I would not recommend this recipe or my revision.