Nellie Willey’s 1887 Recipe for ‘Apple Snow’

“Grate two medium sized tart apples, and cook with it one-half cupful of sugar until smooth. When cool, beat the white of one egg, a pinch of salt, and the apple together one-half hour. Take two eggs, one teaspoonful of corn starch, one-fourth cupful of sugar, two cupfuls of milk and make a thin, boiled custard. Flavor with the juice of a lemon and pour over it the apple snow.”

Nellie Willey, letter to ‘The Cozy Corner’ in Good Housekeeping Vol 5 (1887)

Here’s an answer to the perennial kitchen question of what to do with any spare egg-whites that may be left over when recipes call for egg yolks without their whites: whip them up with sweetened apple purée and a pinch of salt to make a light, fluffy apple snow. Drizzle it with a thin custard, and you can be enjoying enjoy a soft, squishy bowl of sweet, apple-y mush in minutes.

Note to modern cooks: you could beat the ingredients together for half an hour, old-school style. Or you could, of course, utilise an electric hand-mixer and whizz it up until you have just enough fluff. Entirely your call.

What do you think? Are you already an apple snow fan? Does this recipe tempt you to give it a go? Please let me know, via the comments, if snow.