When Jeni Britton Bauer, owner of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in Columbus, Ohio, was young, getting a cold or the flu meant her mother and grandmother would mix up a cocktail of their own cure-all for the winter ills — a syrup of honey, lemon juice and whiskey. She’d get a spoonful, or get to drink it in a hot lemonade before bed.
So in 2004, as those around her sniffled and sneezed their way through a moderately severe flu season, Bauer thought she could help ease some of the suffering by adding her own twist to the family recipe, turning the syrup into a sorbet so the coldness would add a soothing touch as well. The frozen treat contains orange and lemon juices, honey, “ginger, cayenne and liquid pectin — because it makes it into a cough drop that lubricates your throat,” Bauer says.
