Back in the day, when Sal was still with us on the farm, we used to put up over 8 gallons of milk a day. That's a lot of milk. And in wading through all that delicious goodness, we got pretty good at finding creative ways to use it up. Lots of went to homemade cheese, sour cream, and butter. But some of it… some of it went to junket.
Junket? JUNKET? What on God's green earth is junket?
I'm so glad you asked.
Junket is cheese… in a way. But it's totally not cheese. Junket is flan in a way… but totally not flan. And junket is custard-esque… but not at all. Junket is in a category all it's own.
You see, junket is a traditional food who's value has long been forgotten to all but some. And I'm ever thankful for people like David Asher – traditional cheese enthusiast – for reviving them. We need more David Asher's in the world, who keep us from forgetting what was so delicious and beautiful about the traditional ways things used to be done. In his book, The Art of Natural Cheesemaking, David says this about junket:
I think it's about time for junket to make a come back, for it's a delicious dessert, with a fantastic texture. Junket can be flavored with a variety of milk spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom, or allspice, ginger, and mace. It can be made with any type of milk, be it cow, goat or sheep. And it can be spike with cream or spirits to make a more celebratory dessert. – David Asher
We originally made junket so that Willy could enjoy a dessert with us… as he'd just been weaned. Junket is a delicious transition food for the littles, as it is thriving with bacterial goodness. Don't bawk at me. We all need, and thrive, on beneficial bacteria. Embrace the bacteria. Don't fear it.
And embrace the junket. Because it's delicious.
Fun side note: In his book, David shares that junket actually used be served to the sick at hospitals. In fact, hospitals would have their own dairy on premises so that they could make LOTS of junket for their patients. It nourished them. And now, as he notes, we feed our patients blue Jell-o instead. How is this possible? What's nourishing about Jell-o?
Nothing. That was rhetorical question.
Amyway. Onward to junket.
Junket Pudding
Adapted from The Art of Natural Cheesemaking
For great recipes monthly make sure to check out The Elliott Homestead Cooking Community HERE.
If you are making junket with raw milk, follow the recipe as written. If your only option is pasteurized milk, you'll need to include an extra culturing step, as pasteurized milk does not contain populations of good bacteria that help acidify the milk, which is necessary for ensuring a good rennet set, as well as for keeping the growth of unwanted microorganisms in check. If you only have pasteurized, homogenized milk, I suggest seeking out better milk. – David Asher
You will need:
-
- 1 quart of raw, organic milk (pasteurized will work, but homogenized will not)
- 1 tablespoon active kefir or whey (optional if using raw milk but necessary if using pasteurized, non-homogenized milk)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 2 drops liquid rennet or 1/16th of a rennet tablet
1. Warm your milk up gently on the stove in a small saucepan until it reaches 90 degrees.
2. If using kefir or whey to culture your milk, add it into the milk, cover the pot, and allow it to incubate for 1 hour. This will allow the good bacteria time to grow and flourish! It's like microbial science right on your stovetop. I can't be the only one who thinks this is insanely cool…
3. After incubating the milk, mix in the maple syrup, salt, and spices. Stir to combine.
4. Dissolve the rennet in 1/4 cup of filtered water and add this to the milk. Gently stir to combine.
5. Pour the junket into cups or serving dishes of your choice. I used coffee mugs. Because they're pretty, yo. And that's important. individual serving dishes work best.
6. Let the junket set for 1-2 hours, or until firm. Junket can be kept in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve, but I enjoy it best at room temperature and right away!
Junket is a fantastic way to feed your family beneficial bacteria that will build their gut flora. Gut flora is the backbone of our health. Feed it.
Feed it junket. Because junket is delicious.
Ask me. I've eaten a lot of it. As have my children. They think it's one of greatest treats in the world.
Winning.
And Amen.
Junket Pudding: Feed your gut!
Ingredients
- 1 quart of raw organic milk (pasteurized will work, but homogenized will not)
- 1 tablespoon active kefir or whey optional if using raw milk but necessary if using pasteurized, non-homogenized milk
- 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 2 drops liquid rennet or 1/16th of a rennet tablet
Instructions
- Warm your milk up gently on the stove in a small saucepan until it reaches 90 degrees.
- If using kefir or whey to culture your milk, add it into the milk, cover the pot, and allow it to incubate for 1 hour. This will allow the good bacteria time to grow and flourish! It’s like microbial science right on your stovetop.
- After incubating the milk, mix in the maple syrup, salt, and spices. Stir to combine.
- Dissolve the rennet in 1/4 cup of filtered water and add this to the milk. Gently stir to combine.
- Pour the junket into cups or serving dishes of your choice. I used coffee mugs.
- Let the junket set for 1-2 hours, or until firm. Junket can be kept in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve, but I enjoy it best at room temperature and right away!
When you are culturing the kefir do you keep the temp at 90 degrees or do you just cover with lid and turn off the stove and just let it sit for 1-2 hours?
I wondered the very same thing…
Cover, turn off the stove, and let it sit!
Can junket be made without the salt
Looking forward to trying this! One question though, should it remain at 90 degrees the whole time, or is it supposed to cool at some point (like before adding the kefir, or while allowing the rennet to set, etc)?
I am going to make this right now! But with goat milk, because I don’t have a cow, and that’s sad. But I will survive, long as I know how to love I know I’ll stay alive. I’ve got all my life to live and all my love to give and I’ll survive, I will survive.
The active kefir is that just the kefir liquid ur the grains?
Just the kefir liquid!
Hey ,quick question… Want to be sure I understand correctly. I would be using raw milk from my goats. Do I still incubate for 1 hour, or do I just warm the milk and then skip right to adding the maple syrup? Does it turn out better if the whey or kefir is added to even raw milk, or is it just as good without? I am excited to try this! I loved your jello comment! Couldn’t agree more. I have always thought it strange myself, it has no healing value whatsoever!
Incubate for 1 hour!
Jello contains gelatin, and gelatin contains hydrophilic colloids, so it DOES in fact have healing power, just not the kind that junket does.
Good to know, thks
This sounds amazing!
I’m definitely trying this! I have everything on hand except rennet. ????????
I love you woman. This is awesome. I’m in the south hemisphere and winter has decided to come two months early. I’m eating oatmeal like a crazy person, and now I have yet another amazing option for my frozen guts. Thanks for being such an inspiration.
I love reading your site, but have never commented before. This one brought back some funny memories: my mom was an Aussie, and when her parents came to Canada to visit (always for the month of December, so they could play in the snow) Pop brought junket. But the junket I remember him bringing was in little pills, which he dissolved in something, making a little pudding thing that did NOT taste good. I am SO curious now to try the real stuff! I had no idea it was imitating something real!
Anyway , thanks for the memory, and thanks for having such a fun blog!
Melissa, that’s so funny. I’m an Aussie, and, growing up in the 60s, junket was really big here. We had little packets of either plain, or different flavoured junket tablets, and all you had to do was crush the tablets and mix them into the heated milk until they dissolved. Then we poured the flavoured milk into a Pyrex dish and put it in the fridge, and voila – junket! Goodness knows what chemicals were involved, though…
Junket tablets are just rennet, although the flavoured tablets also contained artificial flavourings.
I can’t wait to try this! Thank you!!!
I WOULDNT
I suppose that Jell-O has gelatin… but seriously, who are we kidding? Junket is so much better!!!!
You just made me order rennet :0)
My first step is to get a goat, then making this is next. Okay well there is probably a lot of other steps (build goat shed, milk the goat, etc) but making this is definitely on the list!
Ditto!
Hi Shaye…..Junket sounds divine! I believe I remember my mother’s mother, my Grandma, making junket for me, when we would visit, and she would pile on the blueberries or strawberries!! Yummm!!! The name brought back memories of her, and her fantastic cooking! She was from the Old Country….Switzerland, and knew a thing or two about cooking!! Boy howdy did she ever!!Do you suppose I could add cocoa to the Junket, to make it ch-ch-ch-ch-chocolate???? Can you tell I l-l-l-l-love chocolate??? LOL!! Thanks for the great recipe, and thanks for all your inspiration!! I can’t WAIT for your book to arrive in my mailbox!! (((HUGS)))
I would love to try this recipe, I actually have everything on hand except the rennet. Is there a substitute I can use?
Not really… just order from Amazon Prime and you’ll be making junket in no time!
If I am using liquid rennet do I still need to dissolve it in filtered water or can I just add it to the pot after an hour?
Dilute it in water – it helps for the milk to set evenly.
I am so happy to have found your particular recipe for junket pudding! I now have the Fromase 50 Rennet tablets from Wilderness Family Naturals but how in the world do I go about breaking a tablet into sixteenths. How accurate do I need to be??
Thanks for your help!
Seems like my question has disappeared after moderating or I did something wrong maybe? Anyway, still wondering how you divide tablet into sixteenths please before I attempt the recipe. Is a rough estimate good enough? Thank-you! Elsha.
I tried to make this today. Unfortunately it never set. It stayed looking like cups full of milk. Do you have any idea what I did wrong?
Can I just start with a fresh batch of kefir, rather than milk + kefir. Or will the recipe curdle?
This sounds so amazing. I probable won’t ever get to make it though as unpasteurized milk is illegal in Canada.
Question (on a really old post that you might not even see my comment on)!
Made this today, and it was pretty loose after about 2.5 hours–sort of like a pudding that didn’t quite set right. Would the solution be to use more rennet next time, or let it sit longer?
I was excited when I found your junket recipe. My MIL told me years ago that, even as a baby my husband didn’t like jello and spit it out every time she tried to give it to him. He did love junket and I used to make it for him, until it wasn’t in the stores anymore. Now I can make it for him again (healthier than ice cream). Can I use Greek yogurt in place of the kefir. Would I have to add more liquid? Thanks. LisaD
Hi Shaye,
Just wanted you to know that I make myself a bowl of this junket everyday! I found your recipe about three months ago and since then I have been hooked. I love it at room temp and freshly made so the ingredients are now a staple sitting next to the stove. Yep.. everyday! I am so very grateful for your recipes and blog.
I made this and we loved it! But it did have a weird watery layer under the bottom of the custard. Is that normal?
Katie, junket is curds and whey (think Little Miss Muffet, who sat on her tuffet – a three-legged stool used for milking). The curds are the curdled, custardy texture, and the whey is the liquid that separates from it. It’s very good for you…
My mom would always make me this when I was sick. LOVE IT!!
I’ve given your recipe 5 stars, even though I haven’t yet tried it. In the 60s, when I was a child, Mum used to buy packets of junket tablets – I’m sure a lot less healthy than making everything from scratch, but so nurturing all the same. Just the reminder of those lovely days when I was eating junket (pineapple flavour was my favourite in the mixed-flavour packs), is worth 5 stars.
I’d like to make this spiced version, as I like the Ayurvedic principles of adding digestive/heating spices to warmed milk, rather than drinking gallons of cold milk, as we used to do growing up… Thank you for posting, Shaye – my Mum used to make it when I was sick (a lot), and then I could make it when I was old enough to heat the milk by myself. Lovely memories.
Can you add chocolate to make a chocolate junket?
I was fortunate to grow up on Junket pudding, Junket came in about six flavors I loved the maple best, then the orange next. it made 3 and 3/4 cups so each dessert dish got 3/4 of a cup of Junket, My Mom had a mill spice grinder will whole cardamon, and nut meg in it and it grated very fine spices almost like a spice dust. A very small amount was dusted over each cup.It has only been 10 or 12 years since I had Junket in my pantry, I know make a custard from Bird’s Custard, Condensed milk, and Thai Tea, it reminds me of junket only thicker. I wish the Junket Company would release Junket again.
thanks for this recipe! I can’t wait to make it. One question: do you buy or make your whey? If you buy it, in what form? If you make it, can you add the recipe?
thanks!
My mother used rennet to make ice cream. My assumption is that she was making junket but I don’t remember eating the dessert unfrozen. At the time we had a milk cow and were drinking raw milk. That was many years ago.
Good luck everyone.
Along with spam, corned beef (except in hash) and tapioca pudding, junket is one of those repellant non-gastronomic childhood memories that no amount embellishment will ever banish.
Glad someone likes it though as all that rennet should go to waist not waste.
Bon app!
Well, I don’t know — all this kefir business. Why? I grew up eating junket by the bucketful and it was made using my grandmother’s recipe using plain old pasteurised milk left on the doorstep by our milkman (I’m English), sugar, rennet, and spices to suit. I still eat it by the bucketful, all made that way — so do my kids and grandchildren. So that’s what? Five generations all using the ‘wrong’ milk to make a delicious dessert and all without kefir.
me too! had never heard of kefir and the only milk we could get in the middle of London came in a bottle with a foil cap….
I loved Junket as a kid and hope it makes a comeback. As an adult I can’t eat dairy so am wondering if anyone has tried it with Coconut or Almond Milk?
I made this last night with raw goat milk and it was fabulous. Thanks for the great recipe!
Your article about junket was interesting….but you said NOTHING about where to get rennet that has not been genetically engineered……is there such a thing in today’s world?
let me know
you can buy junket tablets in the supermarket where custard powder usually is, sold as maybe 12 tablets in a small box
Where can I buy junket tablets haven’t been available for many years also my daughter couldn’t get them in England I’m in Australia
You can buy Junket in the supermarket. Most of us don’t have a cow or goat! The supermarket Junket is about $3.50 for 8 tablets and requires plain store bought whole milk. Can you use store bought milk in your recipe?
Another reader asked if yogurt (I make my own) can serve in place of kefir and if so, what adjustments need to be made. That’s my question, too.
Thanks. Looking forward to eating this nostalgic memory in pandemic times.
So we love this but by an accident we found out we LOVE it as a drink without the rennet!! So now we just leave out the rennet and have it for our drink with breakfast
I do not have rennet. Can I use apple cider vinegar?
One of my most vivid memories of childhood (I am 79) is a book called THE JUNKET MAN. My brother loved junket and this book was given to him sometime in the early to mid 40s. It was a wonderful story with wonderful illustrations. In it the whole world was gathered to try to guess what the man in the middle of the arena was eating. Of course there are so many wild and wonderful guesses that went on for pages. Nobody could guess until a child spoke up and said “I know what the Junket Man is eating ITS JUNKET! What a wonderful memory. I have searched the web for this book with no luck at all. If anyone has any info as to how I might find a copy I would love to hear from you,\. My brother is about to turn 82. What a great gift that book would be!
Marjorie – Browsing through the comments, I came across yours.
My husband got a book called “Junket is Nice” by Dorothy Kunhardt for our 4 year old daughter – It’s available on amazon. While the title sounds different, the storyline is similar. We had never heard of Junket before, my daughter loved this book and asked me to make Junket! I haven’t been able to make it successfully yet, but attempts are on!
Hope you see this reply!
Can you use yogurt instead of whey to culture the milk?
And when we made junket as kids it was always with homogenized milk. Why do you say it doesn’t work? Do you mean ultra-pasturized milk? I know that won’t work.
I WAS FORCED TO EAT JUNKET AT SCHOOL WHEN I WAS SEVEN I AM 71 NOW AND HAVE NEVER TOUCHED IT AGAIN ITS RUBBISH ! SORRY