Lemon Posset

Possets have been around for hundreds of years, in fact Shakespeare refers to possets in several of his plays including The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Originally used for medicinal purposes, as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as a, “drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or other alcoholic liquor and typically flavored with spices, drunk as a delicacy or as a remedy for colds.”

Old versions of posset used ale or wine to instead of citrus, most modern possets use citrus. Lemon, sugar and cream. Could a dessert with just three ingredients really be that good? Yep, that’s it.

If you’re using Meyer lemons which tend to be sweeter, you can reduce the sugar slightly if you wish. After boiling the sugar and the cream together, you add the lemon juice and zest. The lemon juice causes a reaction with the cream resulting in it setting up. The resulting texture is smooth and creamy very similar to a panna cotta.

While it was traditionally sipped warm now it is served as a dessert and refrigerated to set up. Allow 2 hours of chilling time minimum for best results.

Lemon Possets
6 servings or 8 smaller servings

2 cups heavy cream
½ cup sugar
¼ t sea salt
1 T lemon zest
6 T lemon juice from 4 lemons

• Put cream, sugar, and lemon zest in a sauce pan and slowly bring to a boil. Stirring occasionally, watch so it doesn’t burn.
• Take off heat and after a few minutes add the lemon juice.
• Stir and let sit for 5 – 10 minutes.
• Stir again and divide among 6 ramekins, glasses, or hollow out lemons and put in the lemon shell!

Cover and chill at least 2 hours.

Serve alone or garnish with mint, berries, or with a shortbread cookie.