My turn: Patience needed for whip recipe

A 1910 Roosevelt County Herald mentions the Portales Woman’s Club eating “grape whip and cake.” Editor David Stevens found the article and suggested a column.

I’d never heard of grape whip. I found two recipes online and chose one from a 1964 Ottawa Citizen newspaper.

To start, I heated grape juice too much — due to multi-tasking — before adding other ingredients and substituting grape gelatin for unflavored gelatin I didn’t have.

The mixture needed to “chill until beginning to set.” Short on time and unsure of what “beginning to set” was, I moved on with thickened liquid and beat it frothy.

Next, I tired my arm out beating egg whites without much progress. I wised up and used the electric mixer.

I decided distinct ripples qualified as soft peaks and combined the egg whites and grapey liquid. The mixer splattered froth, and around then it clicked that the recipe had uncooked egg, meaning I risked salmonella poisoning.

Eventually the mixture’s ripples kept their shape — holding peaks or close enough.

Late to meet a friend, I left purple foam to “chill until set.” Hours later, I had stiff froth over thickened liquid.

It was mediocre. I think it needed more time and patience.