Pucker Up

Quite often I have an overabundance of lemon juice courtesy of my in-law's prolific lemon tree and am always in search of ways to use the juice.  I routinely have somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 cups of lemon juice in my freezer, and while recipes that use a tablespoon or two at a time are nice, recipes that use half a cup or more in a single go are even better!  Lemon sorbet is an excellent way to use up a good bit of juice in one recipe.

In my search for the perfect summertime frozen treat, I initially tried straight lemon sorbet; but both dearest and I found it a bit too tart.  Then one day I got lucky and limes were on sale for $2.98/kilogram (down from a high of $14.98/kilogram!) and I indulged in a couple of kilograms strictly for juicing and zesting. With that bounty of lime juice, I tried a blend of half lemon/half lime sorbet, and while dearest really enjoyed it, I found it was still lacking a certain something to be the perfect summer dessert.  Then out of the blue, the secret came to me:  in the form of fresh white grapefruit from a friend of my in-laws.  It turned out that for me the perfect sorbet incarnation was a blend of grapefruit, lemon and lime juice.  Unfortunately, I did not make a note of the proportions of of the juices in the recipe so I have been trying to re-create that perfect sorbet since.

My latest attempt comes fairly close to that original perfect blend.  I blame some of taste difference on natural variation in the fruits, and the rest on not remembering the exact proportions of each juice in the original batch.  It's definitely a tart sorbet, but I find it very refreshing for warm summer afternoons.

Citrus Sorbet
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup squeezed grapefruit juice (if frozen, allow to thaw)
1/2 cup squeezed lemon juice (if frozen allow to thaw)
1/2 cup squeezed lime juice (if frozen, allow to thaw)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

• In large bowl (or measuring cup) blend sugar, almond extract, and boiling water, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved.
• Allow to cool to room temperature, then chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Blend fruit juices with chilled sugar syrup and turn mixture into ice cream freezer, freezing according to manufacturer's instructions.
• It is best after it has ripened in the freezer for at least two hours.

Adapted from:  Fresh Pink Grapefruit Sorbet, Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yoghurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker Instruction and Recipe Booklet

My Observations:

• This sorbet can also be made by pour the mixture into a freezer-safe container, placing in the freezer, and stirring to break up large ice clumps every half hour until desired consistency is reached.  I have had great results with this method as well, though the final sorbet is not as light or creamy in texture as that made in an ice cream freezer.
• If you find this mixture too tart, you can increase the boiling water/sugar combination to as much as 2 cups of each.
• If your juice is very pulpy, I would drain the pulp from the juice and add the pulp back towards the end of freezing.  Too much pulp in the beginning tends to clump around the dasher and result in an unappealing curds-and-whey appearance and texture in the final sorbet.
• Do not omit the almond extract; it brings an unexplainable mellowness to the sorbet.  I have tried it without the almond extract, but I find the end result too tart and mouth puckering.