One of my favorite ways to enjoy summer berries is to make sorbet. If you’ve never made sorbet, you may be surprised by how easy it is to do at home. You can’t beat the flavor. Nothing in the supermarket even comes close.
Just puree a few cups of simple syrup with a few pints of fresh blackberries. Run the mixture through a strainer to trap all those pesky seeds. Then process it in an ice cream maker and freeze overnight.
All in all, it’s very little work for a frozen treat that’s bursting with fresh berry flavor (the berry mixture isn’t even cooked).
You’ll need 24 ounces of fresh blackberries for this recipe.
Blackberry Sorbet
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup water
24 oz. fresh blackberries
2 Tbls. fresh lemon juice
Makes about 1 quart of sorbet
Make the simple syrup
Combine the sugar and water in a medium-sized saucepan.
Set the pot on the stove over high heat. Whisk occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
Bring the mixture to a boil. Let it boil for maybe 2 minutes, just to be sure that all the sugar is dissolved.
Remove the pot from the heat. Cool the mixture to room temperature, then pop it in the fridge (or freezer, if you want to hurry it along) to chill it completely.
Puree the blackberries and simple syrup
When your simple syrup is completely chilled, you’re ready to make your sorbet. Grab your blackberries. Pick through them quickly and discard any that are bruised or otherwise suspect looking.
Put about half of the berries in the blender.
Pour in about half of the chilled simple syrup.
Puree on high for maybe 30 seconds, until the berries are completely liquified.
Your mixture should look about like this (kinda gross, but just you wait…):
Strain the blackberry mixture
Set a strainer over a large bowl. Pour the blackberry mixture through the strainer.
It’ll be fairly thick, so stir it with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to push it through.
Push the berry pulp through the strainer with your spatula to squeeze out the last of the liquid.
Blend and strain the remaining blackberries and simple syrup. Then pour the lemon juice into the strained mixture. Stir to combine.
Freeze the sorbet mixture
Because you chilled the simple syrup, your mixture should still be fairly cold. Pour it into your ice cream maker. Process according to the manufacturer’s instructions. For my Cuisinart model, that means processing for about 25 minutes.
As the mixture processes, it’ll get thicker.
When it’s done, it should look about like this. (Like the texture of melted ice cream.)
Transfer it to a freezer-safe container. (I like to use a 1-lb. loaf pan.)
Smooth out the surface. Press a layer of plastic wrap onto the surface, then pinch it tight around the edges of the pan. Pop the pan into the freezer for at least few hours (ideally, overnight), until it’s completely frozen.
Scoop, serve and enjoy!
When your blackberry sorbet is completely frozen, it should look about like this.
It should be firm, but still very scoopable.
Enjoy!
