Recipes

Fruit Sorbet

James Beard

Author and Educator

“Follow this basic method for any sorbet—the possibilities are endless. You could have a different flavor every night, all summer long. Sorbets are really perfect hot-weather desserts, refreshing to the palate, easy to make, and a wonderful conclusion to any luncheon or dinner.”

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 egg whites, stiffly beaten
  • 2 cups fruit purée (for an orange or lemon sorbet, use the grated rind, juice, and puréed pulp of 3 oranges or lemons)

Method

Boil sugar with water until dissolved, then boil for 5 minutes more. Allow to cool. Beat this syrup into the stiffly beaten egg whites, and mix in the fruit purée. (If you use raspberries, strain them to remove the seeds). Then freeze the mixture in ice cube trays. After it is frozen, place the cubes in a food processor and process until smooth. Put the sorbet into a container and return it to the freezer for 2 to 3 hours to firm up.

If you make the sorbet in an ice cream maker or a sorbetière (a gadget specially designed for making sorbets), make the fruit mixture and proceed as you would for ice cream, but be sure to take it out before it is as solid as a rock, or you will kill the flavor and texture.

Yield

About 3 cups