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: fruity sorbet 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.
This is really cool! I’ve never made sorbet without an ice cream maker. I like all of the different variations too!
I’ve picked many, many raspberries this last week and was looking for a good recipe to put them to good use. I made half a batch as I don’t have a large food processor, and skipped the vodka. It was perfect and tasted just as good as store bought, but without the nasty preservatives and cost. Thank you very much for sharing your recipe. I look forward to making this again and again.
I’m so glad to hear!
This looks absolutely delightful, I can’t wait to make some of my own sorbet!
Made a mango one today, put half of the lemon that was required and added about a teaspoon of honey. Also, I omitted the vodka, which makes for a more solid sorbet. It. Is. AWESOME!!
Sounds delicious!
I did a strawberry and coconut milk sorbet in preparation for Valentine’s Day dinner. The taste is absolutely fabulous, it’s so fresh and tropical, I don’t think it will last till the occasion, I will probably end up making a 2nd batch just in case.
Here is what I did:
400g frozen strawberries (if you have fresh ones, just clean, quarter and freeze till very hard)
1 can coconut milk frozen in ice cube trays
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 shots of your preferred alcohol
Your preferred sweetener to taste
• Place the frozen strawberries, coconut milk and vanilla in a food processor and process till smooth.
• Taste and add your preferred sweetener as needed. At this point you can add alcohol of your choice if using.
• Process once more and serve.
You can prepare the sorbet just before dinner and freeze it in individual martini glasses with sugared rim.
Sounds incredible! Thanks for sharing!
I realize this is an old post, but I just wanted to let you know how extremely helpful this was! I hate finding sorbet recipes only to discover they require an ice cream machine. This is the most comprehensive post I have found on the subject, so thank you!
Thanks Alyssa!
We had some rhubarb lying around the house, but I wanted to add a little extra something. I combined this recipe with an epicurious recipe for rhubarb sorbet and made raspberry/rhubarb sorbet. It was delicious! The flavors of both fruits really came through, even though I had never heard of that combination.
Also thanks so much for the method! I don’t have an ice cream maker, and this was so successful that I have no intention of getting one.
So glad to hear! Raspberry rhubarb sounds fantastic!
I tried this recipe, loved the results! I’ve linked from my blog http://anewroom.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/homemade-raspberry-sorbet.html, where I’ve put my conversions to grams/ml in case it’s helpful to anyone else.
Thanks Sarah! So glad you liked it!
How long can the raspberry sorbet be kept in the freezer. Have both red and golden raspberry purée ready to use but family won’t be here until end of August. Thanks for any help and happy to find recipe without a ice cream maker!
Hi Jan, sorry it’s taken me so long to respond! If stored properly (cover the surface with plastic wrap before covering and store in the back of the freezer where it’s the coldest), the end of August should be no problem at all. Sorbet can last for a few months!
In the process of a watermelon (with a touch of cantaloupe) sorbet and I made my simple syrup with 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon molasses, and seeped basil for 2 min in the syrup.added my 1/2 lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of vodka. Keep your posted after my freezing is done!
Sounds delicious! How did it come out?
Hello,
I work in the industry and have for over thirty years, always used a machine until I moved to Vermont. I’m looking forward to trying this method. Thanks for publishing.
Can’t wait to hear your results Chris!
Alright, I am a completely satisfied customer! I have a large capacity food processor at my place of employ and now have the knowledge! Thanks BinB!!
yay!
Honeymelon sorbet :1 melon , 70g sugar, 2tblspn fresh lime juice. Liquidise and put in ice cream machine.
Strawberry sorbet :500g strawberries, 2tblspn lime juice, 2 level tspn mazeina dilute in little water, 1 cup sugar (to taste).Liquidise and put in ice cream machine.
Mango sorbet :2 mangos,2tblspn lime juice, 1 cup water, sugar if necessary. Liquidise and put in ice cream machine.
Set each layer firmly before putting next layer on in cake pan.Decorate with fresh fruit. Can use pineapple , granidilla sorbet also for yellow.
That sounds amazing!
I tied this with canned apricots in lite syrup (instead of simple syrup) Still added a little Splenda and no lemon juice or alcohol since I was making it for church. Tried it on the family first, and had to make more for the church. Every day they want to know when I’m going to make more. Thanks!
That sounds absolutely delicious Lynda! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your efforts I’ll try this recipe
You’re most welcome Chef Aicha!
I tried this w/ mango and passionfruit… It. was. wonderful.
sounds delicious!
Love the recipes, will try a few sometime. Never made sorbet before, will be a good learning experience.
I am making apple and pear sorbet with ginger liqueur!!
Thanks for the inspiration!
When would you add the vodka?