Making home-made sorbet is easier than you think. You don’t even need an ice cream machine! It’s basically just frozen fruit puree sweetened with sugar and water. You can also add herbs, chocolate or wines and liqueurs to flavor the sorbet.
To make a fruit sorbet, you’ll need:
1. Fruit (fresh or frozen)
-Soft fruit (mango, berries, peaches, melons, pineapple, bananas, grapes)
-Hard Fruit (apples, pears, rhubarb)
-Fruit Juice (lemon, grapefruit, orange, lime)
2. Sweetener (simple syrup, honey, agave , fruit juice or sweet wine)
3. Acidity (lemon, lime, orange, balsamic vinegar)
4. Alcohol (vodka or liquers), optional
Sweeteners should be added to taste. Depending on how ripe, sweet or tart the fruit is, you’ll need to add more or less. You will always need to add simple syrup to start for the right consistency. Wine, fruit juice or honey can also be added for additional sweetness and flavor.
Alcohol does not freeze so it helps keeps the sorbet smooth and gives it a less grainy texture. You can use liqeurs that complement the taste of your fruit or vodka, which has no flavor.
For soft fruit: add fruit, sweetener, acid and alcohol (if using) to a blender or food processor and puree (pour through a fine mesh sieve if it has any pits).
For hard fruit: add fruit, sweetener, and acid to a pot and cook until tender. Cool and add to a food processor or blender. Add alcohol (if using).
For fruit juice: add juice, sweetener (you can boil it up with some of the rind for a more intense flavor), and acid to a bowl and mix.
If you have an ice cream machine, good for you! Just pour the mixture into it and let the machine do all the work. If you don’t, pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet and freeze until set. Break it up and blend in the food processor until smooth. Freeze and blend again for an ultra smooth consistency.
Here are some gourmet sorbet combinations and ideas for inspiration:
watermelon
pear+moscato
blood orange
lemon+mint
blackberry+red wine
rhubarb
blueberry+pomegranate
strawberry+basil
figs+balsamic
Personally, I love plain old raspberry sorbet! The beautiful crimson color, coupled with some fresh blueberries, is the perfect way to end any meal.
Whats your favorite sorbet recipe? Share it with us in the comments below!
Homemade Raspberry Sorbet
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
24 oz. fresh or frozen raspberries (thaw if frozen)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp vodka, optional
Method:
Create a simple syrup by bringing the sugar and water up to a boil until the sugar dissolves. Cool. Put the raspberries, syrup and lemon in a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth to remove the pits. Pour the raspberry puree onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and freeze until set. Break the frozen puree into pieces and blend again in the food processor (separate into batches, if needed). If possible, freeze on the cookie sheet once more and blend again. Serve immediately or freeze. If frozen, remove from the freezer and let it soften for a few minutes before serving.
1 year ago: crumbless refreshing Shabbos dessert
Wonderful idea. I am linking to your article on my blog at http://familosity.wordpress.com I hope you do not mind.
sure, thanks so much for linking!
“Break the frozen puree into pieces and blend again in the food processor (separate into batches, if needed)”
My food processor blade went round and round without any effect. Until I re-read carefully and separated into batches :-)
Now it looks much better, waiting for the results.
Chanie, request you to put up the lemon-mint-sorbet recipe if you havent already done so. Would be much appreciated :)
Thanks for posting this article!
Very awesome.
Made mine with rum instead of vodka. I think it made a nice complement to the raspberries.
Sounds great! Do you know what volume of sorbet this recipe makes?
Thanks!
Thanks Ayesha, it makes about 1 1/2-2 pints.
I have made a much simpler & healthier recipe with great texture and WITH NO simple syrup necessary. Also fewer steps so it is faster with less clean up. Herewith:
Take fresh strawberries – about 1 full pint, trimmed & cut up. Freeze them solid. Freeze the quantity of raspberries you note above [or less]. Now put all the solidly FROZEN fruit into a food processor and process it into a gorgeously smooth sorbet. Without delay, add sweetener to taste, which can be honey, agave, super fine sugar, your preferred artificial sweetener – all are good – to your taste. Process again to blend all. BTW instead of vodka, I use a liqueur – berry flavored. I leave out the lemon juice – totally not needed when the strawberries provide enough acidity to balance the other ingredients. The strawberries give my sorbet the body it needs. That is all – try it yourself and enjoy!
Thanks for the great recipe! I think it works great with strawberries, but raspberries are a lot more tart and require the simple syrup to balance the tartness.
Ooops! After processing, immediately put the sorbet into a container & put it back in the freezer. It will not get packed down quickly – its texture will stay beautifully for longer due to this sorbet being almost all fruit rather than sugar water.
I often leave out the alcohol entirely – the sorbet does not need it really when you follow my instructions.
I enjoy a Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet myself, but look forward to trying some of the ones you’ve listed.