Clementine Sorbet

A few days ago I wrote about Clementines and one of you lovelies sent me over to chocolate & zucchini where she had written about them too. One of her commenters asked for a recipe and I thought I'd share what I excitedly wrote to her.

Use this basic "recipe" for all citrus sorbets. I steer you wrong not. Have fun with the simple syrups you use to sweeten the juice. Try making a verbena syrup to complete lemon sorbet or a rosemary sweetener for grapefruit. Thyme makes a beautiful complement too. Many people put vodka or other alcohols in citrus sorbets as they help lower freezing temperatures, but I prefer the pure ecstatic taste of acidity and the oily perfume of its soul as its background flavour.

Once in a little banter with Elizabeth Falkner at Citizen Cake about why I don't put water in my citrus sorbets, (I feel this diminishes flavour), she said tiredly, decidedly, "Shuna. You are a purist."

It's just that I eat a Mineola Tangelo for its own personal personality. And I peel a Navel to reach the tiny family of huddling segments at the base. I like slivers of lime segments in my summer melon gazpacho and Meyer Lemon juice on my beets.

My lemon curd is more lemony than yolky, I like it straight up, yup.

enjoy!

CLEMENTINE SORBET

Juice enough Clementines to get just under the amount that your ic maker needs to make one batch.

With a microplane, zest skins to get at least one tablespoon Clementine zest.

Make about a cup of simple syrup in a non-reactive pot using this ratio: 1 1/2 parts sugar to 1 part water. Put zest into this little pot and slowly bring to boil. Boil @ 5 minutes and shut off heat. Let infuse/cool down for about an hour.

Pass the infused simple syrup through a fine meshed strainer and sweeten Clementine juice with this syrup. Sweeten it slowly, tasting as you go so as not to disguise the pleasant tartness of the juice. When it is sweet enough for you a tiny pinch of sea salt is a nice touch, but not necessary.

Churn per instructions on your ic machine. It is best to eat citrus sorbets soon after they are churned. They tend to freeze rock-solid.

{If you find that this is true, "temper" your sorbet in your refrigerator for about 20 minutes or as long as it takes to come to desired temperature.}

Comments

[Kudzu]

Glad you checked out Clotilde's ode to clementines! Your recipe is lovely.

Here's a citrus story for you, told to me by MFK Fisher, whose daughters were obviously as food conscious as their mother. When one of them was three, she pointed to her bellybutton and said, "If this is my navel, then" - pointing with both index fingers to her chest - "are these my Valencias?"

[shauna]

Oh! This looks just gorgeous. I can't wait to make some, Shuna.