Short Cut Sorbet

 

It finally took a "heat wave" to get me to pull out the ice cream maker. M and I had bought an old old oooooooooold hand crank one back in Michigan, but sadly it is still there with his car (but let's not talk about that shall we? It makes him angry). I'm pretty sure I had the ice cream ball somewhere, but I may have lost it in the move from the CR. So I was left with two choices: buy a new one or raid my parents basement.

  

I think the choice is obvious. Spiderwebs over spending anyday.

I can only remember using this machine maybe twice. And we made chocolate and strawberry ice cream. And this may be a stretch, but I'm kinda remembering that I liked the strawberry, and that the chocolate was kinda grainy. I don't remember why we stopped using the machine, but I do remember when I was about 7 I got some toy ice cream maker and that may have squashed any other use of the real machine.

I had some problems with this machine, as I mentioned in this earlier post. Thankfully, it was fixable.

Instead of paying attention during lecture, I was trying to figure out what to make. I was still unsure when I got into my car and left campus. By the time I pulled into the supermarket parking lot, I had narrowed it down to a sorbet. Something simple, quick. Something that really didn't require much thought, as my next attempt would be a step up from this one.

  

I grabbed a couple of lemons, and walked over to the canned fruit aisle. Yes, fresh would be better, but canned is quick, and I can forego the whole sugar syrup thing... because it's in syrup! Laziness wins. Peaches were on sale, so I went with that. I grabbed a bag of ice, and made my way to the express lane.

I mentioned the heat wave, right? It was disgusting. There was significant meltage when I made it back home, and of course... of course! The freezer was full. With my ice melting, I quickly went about getting everything ready for... I suppose churning would be the right word?

Heavy syrup is the way to go, if you using this method. Start off with pouring some of the syrup out and set it aside. With a stick blender, blend the remaining fruit and syrup until it is a nice puree. Add the juice of half a lemon, a shot of alcohol (I used rum) and mix to combine. Now at this point, you can add some of the reserved syrup if you want it sweeter. Once you've got all that done, pour into the machine and let it do its magic. I think it took about 25 minutes to get to the firm, yet flowing stage. Pour into another container and place in the freezer to firm up some more... give or take 30 minutes.

 

Because it was so quick and easy, I went ahead and made another batch, this time with canned pineapple. If you let the fruit chill before you throw it into the machine, it helps shorten the machine time. The peach was good, but a little blah. The pineapple was better, but I think it's because it was a bit tart. It was grainier than the peach, because I didn't let it run for as long as I should have.

All in all, not bad for a first attempt!