The sorbet recipe
for your table
Boil the water with the sugar until all the crystals have dissolved, then let the syrup cool completely. Stirring warm syrup into cold fruit costs you color and freshness, and the mixture needs to go into the machine cold anyway.
Purée the fruit until smooth and strain it through a sieve if you want a smooth sorbet; otherwise, with raspberries and strawberries, the seeds will remain. For lemon, use juice with a little grated zest instead of pulp.
Stir the cold syrup into the purée, add the lemon juice, and taste. The mixture should taste slightly too sweet now, because cold dulls sweetness: what tastes just right at room temperature tastes bland when frozen.
Churn the mixture in the ice cream maker until thick, then place it covered in the freezer for another three hours. Without a machine, put the mixture in a shallow container and stir it vigorously every twenty minutes during the first hour.
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The story
A sorbet is water, fruit and sugar, and nothing else. That is precisely what makes it more difficult than ice cream. In ice cream, fat and protein keep the ice crystals apart; in a sorbet, the sugar has to do that on its own. Dissolved sugar lowers the freezing point, so some of the water remains liquid and the crystals stay small. If there is too little sugar, the water freezes together into a solid block that you cannot scoop out with a spoon. If there is too much, the freezing point drops so far that the mixture never really becomes firm. The ratio is therefore not a matter of taste but the structure of the ice.
The right glass
A sorbet melts faster than ice cream because it contains no fat to slow the melting, which is why the glass matters here. According to the description, the 42 cl sorbet glass below stands on a tall stem that keeps your hand away from the bowl, is 20.1 cm tall and has vertical relief; that same description explicitly mentions a scoop of sorbet with fresh fruit as a use. It is certainly spacious, so do not fill it to the rim for one serving. The second is the classic 24 cl sundae dish with a wavy rim, described as sized for two scoops with garnish. What we do not stock is the small, thick-walled metal cup in which an ice cream parlour serves sorbet; glass cools faster but also warms up faster, so place the glasses in the freezer for fifteen minutes before serving. More sizes can be found among the sundae dishes.
RCR Timeless Sorbet Cocktail Glass 42 cl (6 pieces)
Bormioli Rocco Primavera Ice Glass 24 cl (6 pieces)
Both sets together € 88,90.
The right tools
For a sorbet, besides the glass, you use a citrus juicer for the lemon juice that lifts the flavour and a fine strainer to remove the seeds from the purée. These are the bar tools we use ourselves; you can find everything in our bar tools & cocktail sets.
Glass set (our choice 01) + 2 bar tools together € 67,85.
What will you serve with it?
A scoop of sorbet with a glass of sparkling wine alongside is almost a sgroppino: lemon sorbet, vodka and prosecco in a glass. So pour prosecco or cava alongside it, or put the sorbet in the glass and pour over it at the table. On each drink page, you can read the percentage, what it tastes like, which cocktails it works well in and which glass you need.
Variations & twists
A sherbet is not a sorbet: it contains a little dairy, milk or cream, which makes it creamier and less sharply frozen. A granita is the other extreme, deliberately crystalline because you freeze it in a shallow dish and scrape through it with a fork every half hour. Within sorbet itself, you mainly vary the fruit: raspberries and strawberries need straining, mango and peach do not, and lemon tastes freshest with a little zest from the peel added. A splash of vodka or limoncello keeps the mixture softer because alcohol does not freeze; keep it to one spoonful per serving, as more will prevent it from setting. Looking for more inspiration? Browse more than 100 cocktail recipes.
Serving tip
Put the glasses in the freezer for fifteen minutes and take the sorbet out five minutes before serving, so you can shape it neatly into scoops with a warm spoon. A sprig of mint, a few fresh raspberries or a little zest from the peel provides the contrast a smooth sorbet needs. Between two courses, serve a small scoop in a coupe, without any further embellishment.
Good to know
How much sugar does a sorbet need?
Allow for about one-quarter sugar by weight of the fruit - in this recipe, 150 grams for 600. Sweet fruit such as ripe mango can use a little less, while tart fruit such as lemon can use a little more. If you go well below that, the water freezes into a solid block; if you go well above it, the freezing point drops so low that the mixture never becomes firm.
What is the difference from sherbet?
A small amount of dairy, usually milk or cream, goes into a sherbet. That little bit of fat and protein makes it creamier and milder in flavor and lets it freeze a little more softly. A sorbet is completely dairy-free and therefore has a sharper fruit flavor.
What is the difference from granita?
A granita is deliberately coarse. It is not churned, but frozen in a shallow container and scraped loose with a fork, so you eat loose crystals rather than a smooth mixture. The same ingredients, the opposite intention.
Why make a sugar syrup first?
Because sugar only works if it is fully dissolved. Crystals that remain dry in the purée do not count toward the freezing point and will continue to crunch between your teeth. A syrup made from sugar and water dissolves everything. Let the syrup cool completely before adding it to the fruit.
Do I need to strain the fruit?
That depends on the fruit. Raspberries and blackberries are full of tiny seeds that you can feel in a smooth sorbet, so strain them through a fine sieve. Mango, peach and melon purée smoothly on their own. Straining does reduce the yield: allow for about a quarter less mixture.
Why add a splash of vodka or limoncello?
Alcohol does not freeze at the temperatures of a home freezer and lowers the freezing point of the mixture. This keeps the sorbet softer and makes it easier to scoop. One spoonful per serving is enough; with more, it will no longer become firm. If you're making it for children, simply leave it out.
Frequently asked questions
How much sugar goes into a sorbet?
About a quarter of the fruit's weight; in this recipe, 150 grams of sugar for 600 grams of fruit. That ratio determines the texture: too little sugar produces a hard block, while too much sugar prevents the mixture from becoming firm.
What is the difference between sorbet and sherbet?
Sherbet contains a little dairy, usually milk or cream, while sorbet does not. As a result, sherbet is creamier and milder, while sorbet tastes purely of fruit.
Can you make sorbet without an ice cream maker?
Yes, but then you have to stir it. Put the mixture in a shallow container in the freezer and stir it vigorously every twenty minutes during the first hour, so the crystals stay small. If you leave it undisturbed, it will become more like a granita.
Why does my sorbet become rock-hard?
It usually contains too little sugar, or the mixture was frozen without stirring. Sugar keeps some of the water liquid; without enough sugar, that water freezes into one solid block. A spoonful of vodka or limoncello stirred into the mixture also helps, because alcohol does not freeze.
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