Sorbet

If I'm at home when my mom is having people over for dinner, I will almost always make a sorbet for dessert. It's pretty easy and impressive and there are so many different possible kinds. When I'm paticularly ambitious, I make three different ones so I can give a scoop of each to ech person. Strawberry, Kiwi and Grapefruit was a nice combination. Rasperry and Mango are paticullary amazing.

The secret to perfect sorbet texture is retarding freezing by lowering the freezing point. This is accomplished by dissolving stuff. Higher solute concentration = lower freezing point. Duh. When a solution freezes, the water freezes first, leaving behind a more concentrated solution. The end result is lots of ice crystals suspended in a syrup. If the solution is less concentrated to start with, you end up with very large, crunchy crystals that give you a very icey sorbet. Too concentrated and the ice crystals are too small, and not enough of them, and your sorbet will be mushy no matter how long you try to freeze it. A great way to control the size of ice crystals without having to change the flavor of the sorbet is by adding alcohol (yay!). A molecule of alcohol has the same effect on freezing point as a molecule of sugar, but doesn't have to change the taste. Vodka is a pretty standard one, but liqueurs and even wine can be great flavorings. One of these days I'm going to make a Lime-Tequilla Sorbet, and serve it with a salted rim... Keep in mind that the sugar content of the fruit behaves, chemically, just like added sugar.

The Master Recipe for sorbet calls for 2 cups of fruit puree or juice, 3/4 - 1 1/4 cup sugar (depending on sweetness of fruit), 1 or 2 Tbs of lemon juice and 1 Tbs of alcohol.

Berry sorbet calls for 3 cups of berries pureed with 1/2 cup of water and strained (to yield 2 cups puree), 1 cup sugar, 1 Tbs lemon juice, and 1 Tbs Cassis (or vodka).

For mango, 3 mangos and 1/2 cup water yield 2 cups puree. To that add 3/4 cup sugar, 2 Tbs lemon juice and 1 Tbs vodka (rum is nice)

For citrus sorbets, the amount of juice and sugar is very depended on the sweetness of the fruit. Lemon sorbet requires only 1/2 cup of lemon juice and 1 1/2 cups water and 1 1/4 sugar and 1 Tbs vodka. Grapefruit calls for 1 1/2 cups juice, 1/2 cup of water, and 1 cup sugar. Orange sorbet can be made from 2 cups juice and 3/4 cup sugar. See the trend?

Berry or mago sorbets always turn out silkier and smoother than their citrus friends because those incorporate a lot more pectin, a polysaccharide found in cells walls that is used as the thickening agent in jams. It has the same effect in sorbets, and so, even with an ideal solution of sugar and booze and juice, a citrus sorbet will not have the velvety smooth texture of say, raspberry, where the pectin is extracted from the skins durring pureeing.

Today I'm making a plum sorbet, a last minute decision when I realized the plums were too small and too ripe to make the probably-more-impressive tart. I probably would have fucked up the tart, and sorbet is very forgiving. Also, I'm lazy.

It's a perfect dessert for having people over for dinner. Because, come on, no one really wants a rich chocolately thing after having tons of other food. You don't have to use your oven, and you can make it days in advance. Sorbet FTW