If you’re cutting down on heavy desserts that was part of recent holiday celebrations, but don’t want to completely do without a sweet treat, think “ice.” As in “sorbet.”

Sorbet is basically a frozen confection of sugar, water and fruit. It’s a dessert with a past. One version of its history is that the Roman emperor Nero invented sorbet in the first century A.D., when he positioned runners along the Appian Way to pass buckets of snow to the banquet hall, where it was mixed with honey and wine.

This story is appealing, but it is not even mentioned in Alan Davidson’s encyclopedic “Oxford Companion to Food,” which devotes more than a page to the dish. The Nero story may be apocryphal.

Davidson says the word “sherbet” (also spelled “sherbert”) dates from at least the early Middle Ages in Turkey and Syria. “Sharab,” the Arab word for a sweetened drink, became associated with alcoholic beverages, so a new word was needed for nonalcoholic drinks: “sharbat.” It moved into Italy as “sorbetto,” into France as “sorbet,” and into England and North America as “sherbet/sherbert.” Sometime in the 19th century, sorbet/sherbet became a frozen dessert, not a drink, and alcohol was often added.

These desserts are based on the classic sugar-water-fruit model, with alcohol thrown in. Call them what you will; “ice” is nice.

Sparkling Cranberry Ice

2 cups water

Juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)

Combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir for a minute or two to dissolve the sugar and remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1 cup water, 1/4 cup sugar and cranberries in a pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until the cranberries pop and soften, 5 to 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract as much pulp and juice as possible. Discard the solids, and cover and refrigerate the cranberry juice until thoroughly chilled.

In a large bowl, combine sugar syrup, cranberry juice, sparkling wine and lemon juice. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions, or use the method detailed in the note above.

Recipe adapted from “Jasper White’s Cooking From New England” by Jasper White (Harper & Row, 1989).

Yield: 6 servings

Orange Ice

15 ounces (scant 2 cups) water

2 tablespoons orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Yield: 6 servings

Combine water and sugar in a pan. Pare yellow peel off the lemon in large strips, avoiding the bitter white pith, and add peel to the pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir for a minute or two to dissolve the sugar and remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. When ready to use, discard the peel.

In a bowl, combine orange juice, liqueur and sugar syrup. Squeeze lemon, add juice to the bowl and stir. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions, or use the method detailed in the note above.

Recipe adapted from “Mediterranean Cookery” by Claudia Roden (Alfred A. Knopf, 1992).

Cider Ice

1 cup water

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Combine water and sugar in a pan. Pare the yellow peel off the lemon in large strips, avoiding the bitter white pith, and add peel to the pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir for a minute or two to dissolve the sugar and remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. When ready to use, discard the peel.

In a bowl, combine cider, alcohol and sugar syrup. Squeeze the lemon, add juice to the bowl and stir. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions, or use the method detailed in the note above.

Recipe from Marialisa Calta’s files.