TheBanyanTree: Is there a food chemist in the tree?

[Pam James]

Dear Tobie,

Please forgive my tardiness in replying, but 5 days ago when you originally
inquired, I was really busy being an evacuatee (evacuator?  I'm going to
hear the correct term and smack myself for not being able to grab it
mentally this morning!!) in Georgia, escapee these nasty flood waters in
eastern North Carolina!!

Anyway....  I like to fancy myself a bit of a baker over here, but I'm not
nearly bright enough for any part of chemistry, so I'm stumped!  And, I've
never even heard of Parvice or non-Pareve, but that could also be a result
of the non-brightness, or my ignorance of Judaism or kosher eating.  Or
even knowing if I've used the correct expressions to express myself!

(But here's a side note - we watched an episode of "Chopped" while I was at
my daughters, and it was with 10 and 12 year old chefs.  I was incredibly
impressed!!!  Anyway, one of the kids 'kept kosher' and didn't use cream
with some kind of meat sauce she was  making, and it made  me wonder... Do
professional chefs cook to please their customers, or to keep in line with
their religious beliefs?)

Meanwhile, I can't comprehend the part about whether you are making
meringue with the fruit  mixed into the whites and THEN whipping the crap
out of it, or doing all that whipping and then folding in fruit?  I always
treat egg whites so delicately so nothing will hinder the whipping...

So, not only do I not have a great answer, I leave with a bunch more
questions!  Although like Julie, I'd love to try making it myself!!

Late thought... how many answers can there be??   Moisture levels?  Natural
sugar content?  Some kind of pectin levels?  You've already investigated PH
levels.....  interesting!

Pam

On Sun, Sep 16, 2018 at 10:33 PM <tobie at shpilchas.net> wrote:

> It’s Sunday here, still the 16th of September (my least favorite month)
>
>
> Say folks,
>
>         I am puzzled. Some would say I am perplexed. But we’ll leave that
> to Spinoza.  I am trying to figure something out to do with cooking.  And I
> am doing that while the dinner is waiting to come out of the oven (some of
> it is on the stove, some in the fridge).
>
>         I make a thing for Jewish holidays that I call, "ParParvicevice".
> That’s an abbreviation for Pareve (pronounced: PAR-veh) Ice Cream.  Pareve
> is the middle ground for the "do not mix meat and milk" Godly edict.  You
> know, from the biblical commandment: do not boil a calf in its mother’s
> milk.  (Yes. A great part of Kashruth has to do with that little sentence
> in the Torah. See, we have a 5,000 year old case of OCD and here we are.)
> ANYWAY.  Parvice is a non-dairy ice cream that can go with either a milchik
> meal or a fleyshik meal (milchik = dairy — fleyshik = meat). Pareve, as I
> said is the in between. It can go with either in a meal.  Fish is also
> pareve. Go figure.  Ask a vegan.
>
>         Honest, this Parvice is astonishingly good.  It’s like eating a
> sweet cloud.  I make it with whipped egg whites and usually berries.
> Imagine a cloud of strawberries you can consume, not too calorious either.
> Okay.  So here’s where the food chemist comes in.  For some reason, berries
> of any kind (so far) : strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries,
> blackberries, etc. work beautifully. The egg whites and sugar whip up so
> that two measly little egg whites makes almost two whole gallons of
> parvice.  BUT. If I try this with other fruit, it doesn’t work.  Well, it
> will kind of.  But it’s denser and won’t fluff up.  It’s an intense work
> out.  Good, but not what I aimed for originally (though I’ll say that the
> chocolate Parvice knocked my socks off, so dense and chocolatey).
>
>         So what is it about berries and the whipped egg whites.  It’s the
> only difference in the recipe.  When it’s berries, it works.  When it’s
> other fruit: stone fruit, pineapple, mangoes, anything else, and it doesn’t
> fluff up.  What’s in berries that reacts with the rest of the ingredients?
> Tell me and I’ll give you the recipe.  You yourself will have your socks
> knocked off for one fraction of the calories and zero fat.
>
> Tobie
>
> and the dinner calls me
>
> "Might makes right."     Old proverb
>
> "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."    Matthew
> : 5:5
>
> "Make a fist."     Phlebotomist to patient
>
>
> Tobie Shapiro
> tobie at shpilchas.net <mailto:tobie at shpilchas.net>
>
>
>
>
>