Create, Desserts and Treats, Gluten Free, Spring
Ginger Apricot Rhubarb Sorbet (How to Make ‘Any Fruit’ Sorbet)
Jun
What do you do with your rhubarb when you are done making pie and still picking this beautiful, prolific, and reliable veg? Have you tried it as a sorbet?!
Rhubarb sorbet is one of my favorite garden recipes. So easy to make if you have an ice maker. I love my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker! (Btw, this is an affiliate link. However, it has nothing to do with the yumminess of this recipe so keep reading unless you want to click on the link and help support this blog!)
Serve up a scoop of homemade sorbet along with some vanilla ice cream and you will be in healthy dessert heaven!
Oh… and if you want to be the star of the party this Fourth of July (or any other potluck) homemade sorbet is always a HUGE hit.
How to make sorbet out of anything…
First of all, you can use any fruit. You can use things that are not fruit as well. Rhubarb is a veg. I’ve made pure rhubarb sorbet before and it is AHHHmazing. But really, sorbet is a nice way to use up whatever you have that you think might go nicely together. This week, I happened to have a few apricots in the fridge that weren’t the best for just munching on, but would go perfectly cooked up into a dessert. I decided to toss in a chunk of ginger inspired by a recent foodie adventure at Wolfgang Puck’s ‘Cut Las Vegas’ where I enjoyed a dreamy dish of their Stone Fruit & Boysenberry Crumble which they serve up with a scoop of ginger ice cream, oh yeah, it was good.
The basic process of making homemade sorbet
Roughly chop your ingredients and toss into a saucepan with a little sugar to taste depending on other ingredients. Less is more at this point with the sugar, you can always add more later, but you can’t take it back out. (I shoot for just enough sugar to make it tasty but not so much that the family goes into sugar overload after dessert.) Cover and allow to slowly stew over low heat until soft and all the flavors have melded together.
Transfer the cooked mixture to a food processor or blender and puree the everliving daylights out of it until its nice and silky. Add additional sugar if needed at this point, while the mixture is still warm, to get it just the way you want it.
Put your now silky smooth sorbet base into a bowl, cover and place into the refrigerator for up to 24 hours or until its nice and cold. When you are ready to make your sorbet, follow the manufacturer instructions for whatever machine you have. A little tip… I always like to chill the bowl I will be storing my sorbet in before I fill it to keep the freshly frozen mixture from melting before I get it in the freezer to set.
A little tip… I always like to chill the bowl I will be storing my sorbet in before I fill it. This keeps the freshly frozen mixture from melting before I get it in the freezer to set.
Here is the recipe I came up with for last night’s dessert…
Ginger Rhubarb Apricot Sorbet
Ingredients:
- 2 – 1/2 cups rhubarb, roughly chopped
- 2 – 1/2 cups apricots, pitted and roughly chopped
- 2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and minced (I really like ginger, you can use less, or omit it altogether)
- 1 cup organic cane sugar (or whatever sugar you like, maybe honey?)
Instructions:
- Combine the ingredients in a medium saucepan and simmer, covered, over low heat until fruit is cooked and well softened. Keep the lid on to retain the moisture.
- Transfer the cooked mixture to a food processor or blender and puree until nice and smooth, and no chunks remain.
- Move the pureed mixture to a covered container and into the fridge to chill completely for up to 24 hours.
- When completely chilled, follow your ice cream maker’s manufacturer instructions to process.
Enjoy! Pretty much every sorbet goes great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
For variations, try…
- a pure rhubarb sorbet
- blackberry and basil
- spiced apple
- raspberry and lemon zest
- use your imagination and let me know how it turns out!
For more recipes and ideas of what to do with all that garden and market yumminess, stop by PNWfromScratch.com and see what we’ve been cooking up!
Next, I think I will be infusing something with lavender. Hmm… maybe this time it will have to be an ice cream.
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