Recipe: Watermelon Sorbet

After the success of my Dark Chocolate ice cream, and the pleas of my family for something fruity, I decided to try out Watermelon Sorbet. I do not know what book I got this recipe from, I took a picture of the recipe from the book which I found at my library. I followed the recipe exactly.

Watermelon- Raspberry Sorbet makes 1 quart

Ingredients:

¾ c. sugar

1 c. water

2.5 lbs. watermelon without rind or seeds, cut into chunks

½ c. fresh raspberries

1.5 T lemon juice

1 T vodka

Dash of salt

1.            Combine the sugar and water in small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until sugar dissolves. Boil the syrup without stirring for two minutes; remove from heat and cool.

2.            In a blender or food processer combine watermelon chunks, raspberries, lemon juice, vodka, and salt. Then, pour in sugar syrup and puree until smooth. 

3.            Strain puree into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until very cold, about two hours.

4.            Freeze in ice cream maker as per the makers directions. Then , pack sorbet into a container and store in freezer until solid, about three hours.

My Tips:

You can use frozen raspberries instead of fresh ones, just thaw them thoroughly before using and add the juice and fruit.

While the recipe is called “watermelon-raspberry sorbet” it really is just watermelon. The raspberries only deepen the color and give a bit of tartness that brings out the watermelon. You cannot distinguish the raspberry flavor.

The Vodka is technically not mandatory, but it keeps the sorbet from freezing absolutely sold because it is just water in the end and you don’t want a Popsicle; you want sorbet.

When blending the watermelon chunks it works best to really pack in down into your blend and kind of mush it up. It can be hard to get the initial blending action, but once it starts it will blend completely.

The sorbet tastes exactly of the watermelon you make it with so choose a good tasting watermelon. Mine was a bit overripe so the sorbet tastes a bit over ripe. A flavorless watermelon will make flavorless sorbet. 

I hope you guys try this recipe! My family absolutely loved it. My father especially loved it calling it “the best sorbet or ice cream I’ve ever tasted!” Watermelon is his favorite fruit. Overall, I will definitely make this recipe again, it isn’t hard or too time consuming. The most involved part was straining the watermelon.