Pineapple sorbet with basil and lime

A tropical sorbet made from fresh pineapple with green basil and lime. Sweet, tart and herbal all at once.

Fresh pineapple misbehaves in dairy ice cream — its enzyme, bromelain, breaks down milk proteins and the mix turns bitter. A milk-free sorbet doesn’t have this problem, so the pineapple can stay raw and full of flavour. The basil is blended with the fruit only at the very end so it stays green.

Type: Sorbet · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 650 g pineapple (flesh) (flesh of 1 ripe pineapple)
  • 130 g water
  • 180 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 30 g dextrose (glucose powder)
  • 40 g lime juice (fresh) (from 2 limes)
  • 10 g fresh basil (leaves) (about 20 leaves)

Making the mix

  1. Heat the water, sugar and dextrose until dissolved. Leave the syrup to cool completely.
  2. Peel the pineapple, cut out the hard core and chop the flesh.
  3. Blend the pineapple with the syrup and lime juice until smooth. Finally add the basil and blend for another 10–20 seconds.
  4. For a finer sorbet, press the mix through a sieve. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch the ice cream maker on 5–10 minutes ahead so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Pour in the chilled mix (no higher than the fill line) and churn for 25–35 minutes until the sorbet is thick, glossy and holds its shape on a spoon.
  3. Transfer to a chilled container, cover the surface with cling film and leave to harden in the freezer for 1–2 hours.

Total time: 3 h 55 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

  1. Take the frozen bowl out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
  2. With the machine running, pour in the well-chilled mix — no more than two thirds of the bowl; freeze the rest in a second batch.
  3. Churn for 20–25 minutes until the sorbet thickens into a dense ice slush. Churning longer is pointless — the bowl has already warmed up.
  4. Transfer to a chilled container, cover the surface with cling film and leave to harden in the freezer for 3 hours.

Freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours ahead. The mix must be fridge-cold (5 °C or below) — a lukewarm mix warms the bowl before the sorbet can set.

Total time: 4 h 50 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

  1. Pour the chilled mix into the CREAMi tub up to the MAX line (any extra into a second tub), put the lid on and freeze level for 24 hours.
  2. Put the tub in the machine and run the Sorbet program.
  3. If the sorbet is crumbly or powdery, add 1–2 tablespoons of water or juice and run Re-spin. Serve straight away.

Programme: Sorbet

The CREAMi doesn’t stir the mix while it freezes; instead, its blade finely shaves the frozen block. It therefore copes with a less sweet mix too — this version has about a third less added sugar (around 20–23 °Bx, below the usual sorbet range). Straight from the freezer it is rock hard, so re-process it (Re-spin) before serving.

Total time: 25 h 30 min

Method — No-machine method

  1. Pour the chilled mix into a shallow metal or glass container (3–4 cm deep) and put it in the freezer.
  2. After an hour, stir the mix thoroughly with a fork or a stick blender — work the frozen edges into the centre.
  3. Repeat every 30–45 minutes, 5–6 times in total, until the sorbet is thick and smooth.
  4. Finally, you can briefly whizz it in a food processor for an even smoother result. Leave to harden for an hour.

Without a machine, larger ice crystals grow and the sorbet is coarser. Each stir breaks them up — don’t skip any.

Total time: 6 h 25 min

Stages

Preparation
20 min
Cooking
5 min
Cooling
1 h
Churning
30 min
Hardening in the freezer
2 h
Total time
3 h 55 min

Serving and storage

Serve with pieces of grilled pineapple, or in a glass with soda water as a refreshing drink.

Best within 1–2 weeks, kept in a closed container with cling film on the surface. After that the fruit flavour fades and the sorbet turns coarse. Do not refreeze once thawed.

Tips

  • Fruit is sometimes sweeter, sometimes more tart. Taste the mix before freezing — it should be a little sweeter than seems right, as the cold dulls sweetness. A refractometer measures it precisely (target 26–30 °Bx); if it is below 25, add sugar a tablespoon at a time.
  • A ripe pineapple smells sweet at the base, and a leaf from the crown pulls out easily.
  • You can swap the basil for mint or coriander; a spoonful of white rum turns the dessert into a piña colada for adults.

Sources