Strawberry Spoom

What is Spoom, you ask? Let me tell you!

Spoom is an Italian frozen dessert, similar to sorbet. In fact, it starts out as sorbet. I learned about this light as air dessert in culinary school. I never actually made it nor had I even tried it until this week. It's even hard to find any info or a recipe for it when searched in Google. So I made it up. I knew what is standard in making it, so I figured it out. Not bad! In fact...really good!

Think of it this way...Sherbet is essentially sorbet with dairy frozen in. Spoom is sorbet with whipped egg whites, or meringue frozen in. So think of sherbet, but a million times better and no dairy. And not strange fake lemon-lime gooey weirdness. That's it. Easy Shmeezy ;)

Strawberry Spoom

Sorbet Mix-

1 Cup Sugar

1 cup Water

1 Pound hulled Strawberries

Meringue-

2 Egg Whites

1/3 Cup Sugar

Method: Bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil to make a simple syrup. Refrigerate until cold. In a blender, puree the strawberries and enough simple syrup for your liking until totally blended. Taste it and see if you want more simple syrup. Strain through a mesh sieve if you don't like seeds. Refrigerate again.

Whip the egg whites and sugar together and bring to medium peak. GENTLY fold the two mixtures together. You do not need to fold until there is no white left...just fold it together a little bit. The ice cream machine will mix it well enough.

Freeze the mix following the directions on your machine. If you do not have a machine, you will need to do this a little differently. Just take the Strawberry/Simple Syrup mix and put it in a very large bowl in your freezer. Every 15-30 minutes or so, pull it out and whisk it like crazy. After it starts to freeze, whip up your meringue and GENTLY fold in the egg whites. It wont be totally the same as using a machine, but it should work.

In either case, keep your spoom in the freezer for at least 2 hours before serving.

The texture comes out flaky and light. I like to use strawberries that are super ripe...like you have to use them that day or they will be bad. Those have the best flavor for ice creams and sorbets.

Soft/Medium Peak

NOTE: This has raw egg whites...do not feed to young children or the elderly. Do not eat it if you are pregnant. Please be careful, I like you!