big Calder sculpture

2 October 2015

Welcome friends. My work days have been very chaotic, and it has taken me longer than expected to get this posted. I know that I am pushing it, here, by adding a frozen dessert. By now most people are thinking about pumpkins and halloween, but I am still thinking of the end of summer and the start of fall. That is when I make plum sorbet. I love this recipe.

This recipe was inspired by a soup recipe. Several years ago I purchased The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali. It has a recipe for plum fruit soup and he describes it as the reason that all fruit soups exist. To tell the truth, I've never made this as a soup. I was intrigued by the combination of bay leaf and plum. It seemed to me that this would make a great granita. Granita is a frozen sorbet that you make by flaking the mixture with a fork as it is freezing.

I have made this as a granita for many years. The smell of the plums cooking on the stovetop makes me happy with anticipation. Last year, I purchased an inexpensive ice cream maker and decided to try making this as a sorbet. It was fantastic. I had the flavors from the granita in a smooth and creamy texture. There is something about the way plums freeze that makes this frozen dessert creamy and easy to scoop. It has a texture more like ice cream than sorbet.

I make this the day before I want to serve it. I find that ice creams and sorbets process better when they are chilled overnight. Once frozen, the sorbet will keep for about 2 months.

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Plum Sorbet

46 min. prep time | chill overnight | 25 min. processing time | 3 hr freeze time

Plum sorbet

Ingredients

makes 4 cups

  • 1 1/4 cups water
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 4 ripe dark plums, sliced into eighths and pitted
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 Tbl fresh lime juice

Directions

combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan and stir the mixture a few times with a wooden spoon. Bring the syrup to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all of the sugar has dissolved.

cut the plums into eighths and remove the pits. Add the plum slices and the bay leaf when the syrup starts to boil. Boil gently. You may find that you need to reduce the heat. Stir the mixture frequently; it will foam as the plums cook. Remove the mixture from heat when the fruit is very tender and you can break it up with the back of a spoon. This should take about 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and allow the mixture to cool for 20 minutes.

pour the mixture into a blender, and add the lime juice. Puree for about 40 seconds until it is smooth. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. The fruit mixture needs to be cold before it is placed into the ice cream maker.

pour the fruit puree into an ice cream maker and process following the manufacturer's instructions. This takes about 25 minutes with my machine. Transfer the sorbet to a freezer-safe container and freeze it for at least 3 hours.