Sherbet is a fizzy,
sweet
Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones ...
powder, usually eaten by dipping a
lollipop
A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are availa ...
or
liquorice
Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted.
The liqu ...
, using a small spoon, or licking it from a finger.
Etymology
The word "sherbet" is from
Turkish ', which is from
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, which in turn comes from "
sharbat
Sharbat ( fa, شربت, ; also transliterated as ''shorbot'', ''šerbet'' or ''sherbet'') is a drink prepared from fruit or flower petals. It is a sweet cordial, and usually served chilled. It can be served in concentrated form and eaten with a ...
",
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
''sharbah'', ''a drink'', from "shariba" ''to drink''. The word is
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
to
syrup
In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars ...
in English. Historically it was a cool effervescent or iced fruit
soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...
. The meaning, spelling and pronunciation have fractured between different countries. It is usually spelled "sherbet", but a common south of England pronunciation, using the
intrusive 'r' changes this to "sherbert".
History
Beginning with the 19th century sherbet powder (soda powder) became popular.
[''Brausepulver'' in ]Meyers Konversations-Lexikon
' or ' was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the '.
Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing house in 1826, intended t ...
(1895) "Put a spoonful of the powder in a cup of water, mix it and drink it as soon as possible, during the time of sparkling. ... Because this way the most of
acid of air is lost ... it is more practicable to put the powder into the mouth and flush it with some water."
2 g of
sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda, is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cation ( Na+) and a bicarbonate anion ( HCO3−) ...
and 1.5 g of
tartaric acid
Tartaric acid is a white, crystalline organic acid that occurs naturally in many fruits, most notably in grapes, but also in bananas, tamarinds, and citrus. Its salt, potassium bitartrate, commonly known as cream of tartar, develops naturally i ...
were separately packed in little coloured paper bags.
Sherbet used to be stirred into various beverages to make effervescing drinks, in a similar way to making
lemonade
Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage.
There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using le ...
from ''lemonade powders'', before canned
carbonated
Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids.
In inorganic ch ...
drinks became ubiquitous. Sherbet is now used to mean this powder sold as a sweet. (In the United States, it would be somewhat comparable to the powder in
Pixy Stix
Pixy Stix are a sweet and sour colored powdered candy usually packaged in a wrapper that resembles a drinking straw.
The candy is usually poured into the mouth from the wrapper, which is made out of plastic or paper. Pixy Stix contain dextrose ...
or
Fun Dip
Fun Dip is a candy manufactured by the Ferrara Candy Company. The candy has been on the market in the United States and Canada since the 1940s and was originally called Lik-M-Aid. It was originally manufactured by Fruzola, and then Sunline Inc. ...
, though having the fizzy quality of effervescing candy, such as
Pop Rocks
Pop Rocks, also called popping candy, is a candy, owned by Zeta Espacial S.A. Pop Rocks ingredients include sugar, lactose (milk sugar), and flavoring. It differs from typical hard candy in that pressurized carbon dioxide gas bubbles are emb ...
.)
Ingredients
Sherbet in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and other
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
countries is a fizzy powder, containing sugar and flavouring, and an edible
acid
In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...
and
base. The acid may be
tartaric,
citric or
malic acid
Malic acid is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a dicarboxylic acid that is made by all living organisms, contributes to the sour taste of fruits, and is used as a food additive. Malic acid has two stereoisomeric forms ...
, and the base may be
sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda, is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cation ( Na+) and a bicarbonate anion ( HCO3−) ...
,
sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate, , (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield moderately alkaline solutions ...
,
magnesium carbonate
Magnesium carbonate, (archaic name magnesia alba), is an inorganic salt that is a colourless or white solid. Several hydrated and basic forms of magnesium carbonate also exist as minerals.
Forms
The most common magnesium carbonate forms are ...
, or a mixture of these and/or other similar
carbonate
A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate g ...
s . To mask the unappetising flavour of the reactive powders, a large amount of sugar is added, as well as icing sugar and fruit or
cream soda flavouring. The acid-carbonate reaction occurs upon presence of moisture (juice/saliva), becoming "fizzy".
Products
Sherbet can be sold by itself or used as a decorative agent on other sweets. The measured qualities of sherbet include granularity, colour, "zing" (acidity) and flavouring (normally a citrus fruit).
Sherbet lemon
![Sherbet lemons 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Sherbet_lemons_1.jpg)
Sherbet lemons are a popular sweet in the UK, and are sold in most sweet shops. They are boiled sweets which have an intense lemon flavour with powdered sherbet centres. Variants, such as sherbet fruits including sherbet limes, strawberries, blackcurrants, raspberries and orange are all popular flavours. The sherbet lemon has a strong citrus taste and is sour and tangy. The sherbet in the middle releases, giving a sensation of extreme lemon bittersweet with fizzy light tangy crisp sour.
In the ''
Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'' series, the character
Albus Dumbledore
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series. For most of the series, he is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts. As part of his backstory, it is revealed that he is ...
has a particular fondness for sherbet lemons; their name is the passphrase for access to his office.
Sherbet Fountain
Barratt's "Sherbet Fountain" consists of a 25g tube of sherbet with a
liquorice
Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted.
The liqu ...
stick, and has been sold since 1925. An alternative version consists of a strawberry flavour hard gelatine candy stick, which is red in color. The original concept of the sherbert fountain was sold to Barratt's by Henry Edward Brunt, and was rebranded under their name.
In the traditional paper packaging, the top of the stick was intended to be bitten off to form a straw and the sherbet sucked through it, where it fizzes and dissolves on the tongue. The "new" format only includes a solid liquorice stick, so the sherbet must be licked off that, or eaten directly. This method of consumption was also considered acceptable with the original packaging, which has since been replaced with a solid plastic tube to improve the product's freshness and shelf life. This is advertised on the packet as "sherbet with a liquorice dip".
With fruit flavoured lollipop
Sherbet dips or sherbet dabs are also popular, such as the Dip Dab by
Barratt. They consist of a 23g packet of "lemon flavour sherbet dip with a strawberry flavour lolly" sealed into the bag. The sherbet is sucked clean from the lollipop, it can be repeatedly dipped into the sherbet then sucked clean, or used to spoon the sherbet direct into the mouth.
Flying saucers
Flying saucers are small dimpled discs of edible coloured paper (
rice paper
"Rice paper" has many varieties such as rice paper made from tree bark to make drawing and writing paper or from rice flour and tapioca flour and then mixed with salt and water to produce a thin rice cake and dried to become harder and paper-like ...
), typically filled with white unflavoured sherbet (the same form as in Sherbet Fountains). The first flying saucers were produced in the 1950s in Belgium.
Slang
Sherbet has been used in parts of both the UK and Australia as
slang
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...
for an
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
ic drink, especially
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
. This use is noted in a slang dictionary as early as 1890, and still appears in list of slang terms written today (especially lists of Australian slang). "We're heading to the pub for a few sherbets." – ... pints of beer."
See also
*
Sharbat
Sharbat ( fa, شربت, ; also transliterated as ''shorbot'', ''šerbet'' or ''sherbet'') is a drink prepared from fruit or flower petals. It is a sweet cordial, and usually served chilled. It can be served in concentrated form and eaten with a ...
(Middle Eastern drink)
*
Italian ice
Italian ice is a frozen or semi-frozen sweetened treat made with fruit (often from concentrates, juices, or purées) or other natural or artificial food flavorings.U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationCFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 Acce ...
*
Sorbet
Sorbet (), also called "water ice", is a frozen dessert made using ice combined with fruit juice, fruit purée, wine, liqueur, honey, etc. Generally sorbets do not contain dairy ingredients, while sherbets do.
Etymology
The word "sorbet" e ...
*
Pixy Stix
Pixy Stix are a sweet and sour colored powdered candy usually packaged in a wrapper that resembles a drinking straw.
The candy is usually poured into the mouth from the wrapper, which is made out of plastic or paper. Pixy Stix contain dextrose ...
– a popular brand of
dextrose-rich sherbet powder manufactured by
The Willy Wonka Candy Company
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
*
Fun Dip
Fun Dip is a candy manufactured by the Ferrara Candy Company. The candy has been on the market in the United States and Canada since the 1940s and was originally called Lik-M-Aid. It was originally manufactured by Fruzola, and then Sunline Inc. ...
- another Wonka powder, in a different format
*
Swizzels Matlow
Swizzels Matlow Limited, branded as Swizzels, is a confectionery manufacturer based in New Mills, Derbyshire, near Stockport in the United Kingdom.Manchester Evening News 5 April 2012 Thursday Confectioners are making a lot of lolly The compan ...
– notable manufacturer of sherbet products
*
Pop Rocks
Pop Rocks, also called popping candy, is a candy, owned by Zeta Espacial S.A. Pop Rocks ingredients include sugar, lactose (milk sugar), and flavoring. It differs from typical hard candy in that pressurized carbon dioxide gas bubbles are emb ...
- Another similar confection that pops and fizzes in saliva.
References
External links
Of the Street Sale of Ginger-Beer, Sherbet, Lemonade,&C. from ''London Labour and the London Poor'', Volume 1,
Henry Mayhew
Henry Mayhew (25 November 1812 – 25 July 1887) was an English journalist, playwright, and advocate of reform. He was one of the co-founders of the satirical magazine ''Punch'' in 1841, and was the magazine's joint editor, with Mark Lemon, in ...
, 1851; subsequent pages cover the costs and income of street sherbet sellers.
Tangerine Confectionery homepage
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