Living behind the impenetrable Iron Curtain, I grew up without bananas, McDonalds and Coca Cola. But we did have Pepsi Cola and Fanta. When Mr Nixon became the President of the USA, Pepsi became the first foreign consumer product to be sold in the USSR - apparently it was traded for Stolichnaya vodka. Fanta entered the Soviet shops when Mr Carter was presiding over the USA in 1979; Coca Cola arrived with Mr Reagan in 1985*. And it was the distant memory of Fanta - a orange-flavoured soft drink I haven't had for ages - that so vividly came to my mind when sipping the last, melted scoops of this beautifully coloured sorbet last morning..
Of course, there is much more to Fanta than freshly squeezed orange juice, sugar and water (and what is inside Fanta depends on where you're buying it - do read the note below**). But the association is there, at least for me. This was super-easy to make - as long as you've got an ice-cream machine (and I do), and extremely rewarding. We'll be making this sorbet again and again soon, as well as experiment with other citrus flavours..
Orange Sorbet
(Apelsinisorbee)
Serves 6
400 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
200 ml water
200 ml caster sugar
pistachio nuts, to serve (optional)
Pour water and sugar into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes to make a syrup. Cool.
Mix cold orange juice and syrup and churn in your ice cream maker according to the instructions. (We gave it 20 minutes in a Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment).
Put in the freezer to harden a little before serving.
To serve, sprinkle with pistachio nuts for a great colour impact.
* Read this New York Times article from 1995 for more information.
** According to Wikipedia,
the Spanish Fanta Orange contains Carbonated water, sugar, 8% orange juice from concentrate, acidity regulator E-330 (citric acid), aromas, preserver E-211 (sodium benzoate), stabilizers E-414 (gum arabic), E-412 (guar gum), E-445, antioxidant E-300 (ascorbic acid), food coloring E-160a and gelatine (made from fish). The US Fanta Orange contains Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose, citric acid, sodium benzoate, modified food starch, natural and artificial flavors, sucrose acetate isobutyrate, sodium polyphosphates, coconut oil, yellow 6, brominated vegetable oil, red 40, dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate.
So if you're buying Fanta Orange in the US, my orange juice association may seem totally out of place to you - there's none in the American version :)
UPDATE 31.10.2007: I've also learnt that Estonian Fanta Orange contains 3% orange juice (in the interest of research, I drank one last week. And yes, the association still holds:), and a Greek Fanta Orange a whopping 20% orange juice! What a difference! (Note that Coca Cola recipe is the same across the world).
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