Making sorbet is truly simple these days with the inexpensive ice-cream machines now available. The trick to making a smooth and creamy sorbet is in the ratio of liquid to sugar. Too much liquid and an ice block results. Too much sugar and a slushy results. If you’re using canned fruit, buy the unsweetened kind. The same is true with the addition of wine or spirits to a sorbet. Too much wine or alcohol will produce a slush rather than a sorbet. Add just enough to impart a perfume and enhance the fruit while keeping it smooth and creamy frozen for scooping.
Some recipes call for egg whites or gelatin as stabilizers that prevent those ice blocks. Egg whites are uncooked and subject to salmonella. Gelatin gives the sorbet a distinctive taste of plastic. It’s easier, tastier and safer to let the sorbet sit at room temperature for 10-20 minutes before trying to scoop it.
- 2 cups canned dark plums with juice
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1/2 cup Tawney Port wine
Pit the plums if necessary. Puree plums with juices and port wine in a blender. Freeze in ice-cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Scoop the finished product into freezer safe containers and continue to freeze for 1 or 2 hours. This is excellent with a scoop of French vanilla ice-cream and almond tuilles.
Tags: Fruit Sorbets, Making Sorbets, Plum Port Sorbet, Sorbets, Wine & Sorbets