I get asked for my sorbet recipe a lot. Its a recipe but its also not a recipe? I asked my youngest and she said, “Its just syrup and frozen fruit.” Indeed. I flavor my syrup with spices and herbs and then use that with frozen fruit. I don’t measure my spices that go into the syrup, but I do several taste tests until I feel like the flavor of the syrup is what I am looking for. Some I leave in a long time, and some I take out almost immediately, (lavender is one). I feel like sorbet for our fruit course makes breakfast planning easier as it is vegan, and less potential allergens. I will admit its not great for those who are diabetic or low carb, but those two groups also often would skip the actual fruit as well.
In the recipe I list several flavors I use pretty regularly. Sometimes I create new syrup flavors. This year I did fireweed (using the blossoms), and last year I did lilac. Sometimes it is a curiosity to know what those plants taste like, sometimes it is using what I have, or what needs used (the lilac tree was being cut down). Be creative. I do get some inspiration from reading cocktail recipes.
Fruit Sorbet
Fresh, flavorful, frozen, and the combinations are only limited by your imagination!
Ingredients
Simple Syrup
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- herbs, spices, flowers
Fruit
- 2 cups fruit frozen
Instructions
Simple Syrup
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Combine sugar, water, and herbs in a pot over medium heat.
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Stir as mixture bring to simmer to ensure sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to steep.
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Once syrup has been flavored enough for you, strain and store syrup in the fridge.
Sorbet
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Add one cup chilled syrup and two cups frozen fruit to high powered blender and blend.
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Once thouroughly blended, remove from blender and place into a container in the freezer
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Alternatively you can blend fresh fruit and place ingredients in an ice cream maker.
Recipe Notes
The first thing to know is that making a sorbet isn’t complicated, but to get all the components ready does take some wait time. Making sorbet is a three step process: 1. Prepare Simple Syrup 2. Prepare Fruit Base (freeze, or blend fresh fruit if using a ice cream maker) 3. Combine in the appropriate proportions and mix/freeze. You may find depending on the fruit you need to add more or less syrup to get the right frozen consistency depending on the sugar content in the fruit. Pommegranate juice does not freeze, I haven’t tried it but I would suspect you could use it with another fruit as the syrup.
I have some rotating flavors that I make continually throughout the year.
Blueberry Spruce
Blackberry Lavender
Raspberry Rose
Poached Pear (warm fall spices, and non alcoholic wine)
Apple Pie
Strawberry Rhubarb Rosemary (Rhubarb in the syrup and strain due to texture)
Peach Sage
Cherry Thyme
Roasted Grape
Mango Basil
Cantaloupe Mint
I have also made with varying success and acceptance:
Tomato (think frozen bloody mary)
Cucumber (think Thai cucumber dip)
I have also made the simple syrup using honey instead of sugar.
Alternative use of sorbet, it pairs well as a champagne float for a different take on a mimosa.
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