Junket is a

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

-based dessert, made with sweetened milk and

rennet Rennet () is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease enzyme that curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, such as pepsin and a ...

, the digestive

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

that

curdle Curdling is the breaking of an emulsion or colloid into large parts of different composition through the physio-chemical processes of flocculation, creaming, and coalescence. Curdling is purposeful in the production of cheese curd and tofu; und ...

s milk. Some older cookery books call the dish curds and whey. Junket

Preparation

To make junket, milk (usually with

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

and

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

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 Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

. The dessert is chilled prior to serving. Junket is often served with a sprinkling of grated

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

on top.

History

Junket evolved from an older French dish, ''jonquet'', a dish of renneted cream in which the whey is drained from curdled cream, and the remaining curds sweetened with sugar. In medieval England, junket was a food of the nobility made with cream and flavoured with rosewater, spices and sugar. It started to fall from favour during the Tudor era, being replaced by

syllabub Syllabub is a sweet dish made by curdling sweet cream or milk with an acid such as wine or cider. It was a popular British confection from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Early recipes for syllabub are for a drink of cider with milk. By the 1 ...

s on fashionable banqueting tables and, by the 18th century, had become an everyday food sold in the streets. For most of the 20th century in the eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, junket made with milk instead of cream was a preferred food for ill children, mostly due to its sweetness and ease of digestion. Dorothy Hartley, in her "Food in England", has a section on rennet followed by a section on 'Junkets, Curds and Whey or Creams'. She cites rum as the most common flavouring, and clotted cream as the 'usual accompaniment'. She notes that the practice of heating the milk to blood heat is a new one; originally, junket was made with milk as it was obtained from the cow, already at blood heat.

Etymology

The word's etymology is uncertain. It may be related to the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

''jonquette'' (a kind of cream made with boiled milk, egg yolks, sugar and caramel), or to the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

''giuncata'' or directly to the

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...

''juncata''. The first recorded use in this sense is in "The boke of nurture, folowyng Englondis gise". The word may also derive from the French ''jonches'', a name for freshly made milk cheese drained in a rush basket,''An Omelette and a Glass of Wine'' originally published in London by R. Hale Ltd, 1984. See the chapter titled "Pleasing Cheeses,"p. 206. which itself derives from ''jonquet'', the name for such a basket.

References

{{Portal, Food Puddings Curd British desserts Historical foods British puddings French desserts American desserts Milk dishes