Friday 22 February 2008

Watermelon sorbet

As a "healthier" dessert I decided to try my hand at making sorbet. This recipe is adapted from this recipe, but I found I prefer to use honey because it gives a more interesting flavour, and lemon gav I don't have an ice cream machine or anything like that, but I do have an 800 watt ice crushing stab mixer and that seemed to do the job just nicely.

  • 500ml water
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3/4 cup caster sugar
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1.2kg seedless watermelon, rind removed, coarsely chopped
  • 2 egg whites
  1. Combine the water, honey and sugar in a medium saucepan and stir over low heat for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool. Add lemon juice and combine.
  2. Meanwhile, place watermelon in a jug and blend with a stab mixer or blender until pureed. Strain puree through a fine sieve into a jug, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. The recipe said I should have about 600ml of watermelon juice, but I had about 800 ml. This didn't seem to affect the recipe.
  3. Add sugar syrup to watermelon juice and stir until well combined. Pour into an airtight container, cover and place in the freezer for 4-5 hours or until almost set.
  4. Roughly break up the sorbet with a metal spoon and use a stab mixer to blend to a smooth, soft texture.
  5. Return sorbet to container and place in the freezer for a further 4 hours or until firm. Remove from the freezer and repeat step 4. Return sorbet to the container and place in the freezer for a further 4 hours or until firm.
  6. Place the sorbet and egg whites in the bowl of a food processor and process until sorbet is pale and smooth. Return to the container and place in the freezer for a further 4 hours or until almost firm.
This keeps for up to a week. If you're not serving it on the day you make it, you'll probably have to give it a quick beat with a metal spoon before balling it up to serve.

1 comment:

Dr. Health said...

This recipe is adapted from this recipe, but I found I prefer to use honey because it gives a more interesting flavour.