Raspberry Sorbet
Dessert
A summer sorbet for garden raspberries. Tart, clean, and worth making when the canes are heavy.
- Yield About 8 servings
- Total 4 hr 30 min
- Prep 25 min
- Cook 10 min
- Difficulty easy
- Method Freezer
- Category Dessert
I use raspberries from the garden and make this through the summer when the canes are producing. Ice cream maker is my usual method; the freezer-only approach works well if you keep breaking up the ice crystals.
Bright, tart raspberry sorbet with nothing fussy in it. I use raspberries from the garden and this is one of my go-to recipes through summer, when the canes are throwing out more fruit than we can eat fresh.
I usually make it in the ice cream maker, but you can get a good result with just a freezer if you are willing to whisk it a few times as it sets. The sugar syrup gives a clean sweetness; the lemon sharpens the raspberries without taking over.
Equipment required
- Saucepan
- Food processor or Blender
- Fine sieve
- Two bowls (for an ice bath)
- Measuring jug
- Weighing scales
- Ice cream maker (optional)
- Freezer-proof container
- Balloon whisk or fork (freezer-only method)
Ingredients
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 270 ml water
- 500 g raspberries
- ½–1 lemon, juiced (1–2 tbsp)
Method
- Put 200 g granulated sugar and 270 ml water in a saucepan over a low heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
- Raise the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the liquid has become a light syrup. Set aside to cool.
- To cool the syrup quickly, set up an ice bath: fill a large bowl with water and ice, then stand a smaller bowl with the hot syrup in the ice water. Stir now and then until cool.
- Put 500 g raspberries and 1–2 tbsp lemon juice in a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth.
- Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing with the back of a spoon. Discard the seeds.
- Stir the raspberry purée into the cooled sugar syrup until well combined.
- Ice cream maker: churn in your machine for up to 1 hour, until thick and softly frozen. Decant into a freezer-proof container and freeze for 2–3 hours to firm up.
- Freezer only: pour into a freezer-proof container and freeze for 1 hour 30 minutes. Whisk with a balloon whisk or fork to break up any ice crystals, then return to the freezer.
- For the freezer-only method, whisk again about once an hour for 4 hours, breaking up ice crystals each time. Stop when the sorbet is firm but still scoopable.
- Keeps in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Tips & notes
- Garden raspberries: this is a brilliant way to use a glut from the plot in summer. Pick when ripe and make the sorbet the same day if you can.
- Cool the syrup first. If the purée goes into hot syrup, you lose freshness and the mix takes longer to freeze.
- Ice bath: two nested bowls is the quickest way to cool the syrup — no need to wait for room temperature.
- Ice cream maker: churn times vary by machine. Mine can run for up to an hour; stop when it is thick and softly frozen, then firm in the freezer.
- Freezer only: the hourly whisk is what keeps it scoopable instead of a solid block of ice. Do not skip it.
- Raspberries: garden-fresh is ideal in summer. Frozen shop-bought works too — let them thaw slightly before blitzing.
- Keeps in the freezer for up to 1 month in a sealed container.