In Praise Of

The Joys of Homemade Sorbet

I see you rolling your eyes already, but hear me out on this.

For Hannukah my family received an ice cream maker. Immediately I snapped up the gift and spirited it away back to DC. Suffering from a partial lactose intolerance (probably psychosomatic) I don’t go for ice cream. My love for froyo is well documented, but it’s possible I love sorbet even more. For the last month I’ve been experimenting and I’ll say I’m getting pretty good.

Making sorbet is extremely easy. After a few initial botches (I’ll get to that in a minute), I’ve hit my stride. Generally speaking you need about 1 1/2 pounds of fruit and 1 1/4 cups of simple sugar (2 cups water/2 cups sugar, boil until the sugar dissolves and let simmer and stir).

Citrus sorbet is a little more complex. The one thing you need to know is that you REALLY need to remove the pith. Using a chef’s knife you need to remove all of the pith, otherwise your sorbet is going to be bitter. My first attempts at blood orange sorbet produced an edible, but not delicious result.

Blackberry SorbetBerry sorbet on the other hand is my jam. My two biggest successes have been blackberry (don’t strain your mixture) and raspberry strawberry. To make it you take your fruit and add 1/4 of a cup of the simple syrup. Food process it up and when it has been pureed add in another 1 cup of simple syrup and stir. Put the mixture into the fridge for about an hour and then use your ice cream maker following the manufacturer’s instructions.

If you’ve done it right you’re going to need bowls because everyone’s going to want in.

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