I always thought Sorbets were "icy and clear " in texture(refreshing!) but last night at a wedding what i thought i ordered as sorbet looked and tasted like chocolate ice-cream. Have just looked up sorbets recipes on the web and all the recipes I saw talk of "icecream" and using icecream makers.
Does anyone here make Sorbet of any type and which is the best, easiest, tastiest & healthiest(?)
I have looked in the recipe section on this forum and there are only 2 sorbet recipes, so what I am wanting to know is do you have to stick to a particular recipe or is the fruit "transferable" (ie can you use any fruit you prefer or does that affect the final product?) or does anyone have any tried and true recipes for Sorbets. What are the best fruits/flavours to use? I am thinking I'd like mango or lemon?
Does it have to be eaten quite soon or does it keep like icecream in the freezer?Is it difficult to make?
With summer coming up I am interested in giving this a go.
I look forward to any advice or info anyone has to offer. Many thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2007 07:18AM by Maryloo.

Have a look in Sophie Gray's latest book "Enjoy" She has a recipe for Lemon Sorbet which looks interesting and easy to make

Not quite the weather for it, but I have a complicated, time-consuming blueberry sorbet recipe which requires heating and blending and refrigerating for hours and churning in an icecream maker and the addition of egg whites and freezing overnight and......so I worked my usual abomination of simplicity into it and I enjoy the following whenever I feel like a blueberry taste sensation hit:

¼ cup sugar
2 tbspns water
two pinches of salt
1½ cups of frozen blueberries
1 tbspn lemon juice

Put all into a food processor/blender and process until smooth. Put into your prettiest little eating bowl/s and eat immediately, using your prettiest wee spoon/s, while still chilled.

Admittedly, it might be stretching to call it a sorbet but......
It's also quite tangy.

Not having an icream maker ( and not wanting another gadget that would be hardly used to clutter my cupboards) it seems its not that straight forward or as simple as I thought.:-(



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2008 07:04AM by Maryloo.

Maryloo, I've got a bunch of sorbet recipes that I haven't tried yet but the beauty of them is that none of them require an icecream maker. Instead they say things like:

"Pour the mixture into a freezer container and freeze for 3 hours, until softly set. Remove from the container and chop roughly into 7.5cm pieces. Place in a food processor and process until smooth. Return the mixture to the freezer container and freeze again until set. Repeat this freezing and chopping process two or three times, until a smooth consistency is obtained. Transfer the sorbet to the refrigerator about 20-30 minutes before serving to soften slightly."

Others are simpler again - "freeze until slushy. Beat the mixture, then freeze again. Repeat this beating process one more time, then cover the container and freeze until firm. Remove the sorbet from the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving, to allow it to soften slightly."

All of them, after giving these type of instructions, say "Alternatively, use an ice cream maker."

Some of them, like my original blueberry one, use whisked egg whites to assist with the texture.

But mostly, the procedure is to freeze, chop, freeze, chop, several times. We can do it Maryloo!

Ooo! sounds promising J1
Do you think they would be creamy-ish or more icy/slushy-ish.
I dont mind either really.
I though sorbets were meant to be "mouth fresheners" of a sort.
I guess the "icy-ish" ones are more summery and the creamier ones are more dessert-y. Am I thinking along the right lines here?
If you are able to write down, or PM me a couple of recipes to practice on sometime, I'd be grateful Jenifer1. The creamyish chocolate one I had with a lemon tart for dessert at a wedding awhile back was beautiful.

Last summer( remember that one!!) we had a bit of a sorbet fetish and these were our favourites- just one word for them... yummmmmmm

Lime and Cointreau Sorbet

1 c sugar 1 c water zest of 3-4 limes 1/2 c lime juice 1.5 T cointreau
Dissolve sugar in water over low heat without boiling then leave to cool. add remaining ingreds then to quote Jennfer, freeze(forabout 3 hours), chop, freeze, chop, freeze and scoff!

Melon Sorbet

1 rockmelon(or 1/2 water melon), 2 T icing sugar juice of 1 lemon
Seed melon and cut into small chunks. Blend half with icing sugar and lemon juice then add the rest of the melon and blend til smooth. Slight variation here, freeze(2 hours this time) then whiz, freeze and whiz

Coconut Sorbet
1 c sugar 1 c warm water 2 c coconut milk 1 t coconut essence 1/2 c dessicated coconut 2 egg whites stiffly beaten
Dissolve the sugar in water and then leave til cool. Add coconut milk, coconut essence and coconut. Yet another variation on the theme freeze for at least 8 hours then scoop into food processor, add egg white and whiz til mix is fluffy and white. Freeze for at least another hour or until firm.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2008 12:20PM by Sally.

Hi Maryloo, some time in the next few days I will send you a PM with sorbet recipes; happy to help as I'm a big fan of them myself - the icy ones anyway. Do you have a food processor? You really should give my quick blueberry "thing" a whirl - icy, cold, refreshing, delicious. Eat it now, sitting by the fire. It has the most beautiful purple/blue/red colour.

I think the creamy ones cannot really be called sorbet and are instead gelato/icecream. Sorbet, to me, is water, fruit/juice, sugar, and sometimes the egg whites. Anything with dairy (milk/cream) becomes ice-cream/gelato.


One of my favourite flavours is the coconut one. Sally has given a recipe for that. Thank you Sally! I think coconut sits on the fence for classification. It uses milk but really it is a "fruit juice" milk rather than dairy, so even though the end result is creamy, it fits the sorbet criteria.

Oh, thanks girls.
I will keep the recipes and try them as soon as I can. No real hurry for the recipes J1- just at your leisure.
I do have a packet of frozen Blueberries in the freezer too! And a food processor so am more than half way there:-)
As I said earlier, Sorbets are icy mouth refreshers to me and I agree about the icream-y thing.

Sally, I made your Coconut Sorbet, omitting only the coconut essence, and it is delicious. It makes nearly a 2L icecream container full, so I have a nice little supply now! Thank you once again.

Just a quickie cos as you can see from my email address I am at work(!) but as an aside the original spot I got the coconut sorbet recipe from, suggested serving it with barbequed pineapple +/- a drizzle of rum - now that was to die for!! Enjoy!

I make a lot of sorbet but always use my ice cream maker which simplifies things. I made one last night for a dinner party and didn't start it until 5pm but it was ready to eat after entree. It wasn't a dessert sorbet but a palate cleanser - pear, gin and mint. I opened a large can of pears, drained them, boiled and reduced the syrup from the can to about 1 cup. I poured the syrup into the food processor with the pears, added 1/4 cup of gin and 1/4 cup lemon juice., pureed the lot then added a couple of tablespoons of chopped mint. I chilled it in the freezer for one hour and at 6.00 I poured it into the ice cream maker, churned it for 20 minutes, popped the lot into the freezer and it was ready by 7.30. Dead easy.

As long as you have a sugar syrup, you can vary the fruit and the flavourings to suit. I have found that if there isn't enough sugar, it will freeze solid and that's when you need to introduce beaten egg whites to keep the mixture light.

I love sorbet (especially in summer!) and dont have an icecream maker - have never found it a problem. the two recipes in particular I love are strawberry sorbet and feijoa sorbet. Even though feijoas are now out of season, I have lots of them cut up and slice in my freezer so I can make this out of season, it is truly to die for.....the flavour is fab. The only pain for both recipes is getting the seeds out but a mouli is good for this, or my dear 12 year old son happily pushes it through a sieve!
You could make the strawberry one with frozen berries, but fresh is really best! the same basic method applies for most fruits though, so experiment and see how you go.

The recipes are on the links below
(feijoas) [wwwthinkingaboutfood.blogspot.com]
(strawberry) [wwwthinkingaboutfood.blogspot.com]

[wwwthinkingaboutfood.blogspot.com]

Gosh, this topic has suddenly come alive!! Great.
I love the sound of the Feijoa sorbet too. One Question - wht would happen if you left the pips in - apart from the obvious visual impact? Would it afffect the flavour or affect the "freeezing" in any way?
My mouth waters at the thought of fresh Feijoas..I LOVE those green Feijoa lollies you can (sometimes) get it the supermarket.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2008 07:53AM by Maryloo.

I wouldnt know about whether it would affect the flavour, as I have never left them in. Try it out and see where you get to, do both and compare, personally I think you should try the without seeds version as if you like feijoas you will be blown away by it, it is sublime!

[wwwthinkingaboutfood.blogspot.com]