Junket (dessert)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Junket is a milk-based dessert, made with sweetened milk and rennet, the digestive enzyme which curdles milk. Junket is commonly made with a prepackaged mix of rennet and sweetner from a company eponymously known as Junket (company).
To make junket, milk (usually with sugar and vanilla 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". (Temperature variations will inactivate the enzyme in the rennet, causing the dessert to fail.) The dessert is chilled prior to serving. Junket is often served with a sprinkling of grated nutmeg on top.
The Middle English word is jonket, which was a kind of egg custard served on a mat of rushes, or made in a rush mat. The ultimate source of the word is the Latin juncus meaning a rush.
