Raspberry sorbet

Intensely raspberry, deep red and seedless. Works with frozen raspberries too.

Raspberries have plenty of flavour, acidity and natural pectin, which is why they make one of the creamiest fruit sorbets. The fruit isn’t cooked — it is simply blended with the syrup and sieved. Frozen raspberries work just as well as fresh and are available all year round.

Type: Sorbet · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 550 g raspberries (fresh or thawed)
  • 200 g water
  • 210 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 50 g glucose syrup (DE 40, 80 % solids)
  • 15 g lemon juice (fresh)

Making the mix

  1. Heat the water, sugar and glucose syrup, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Leave the syrup to cool.
  2. Blend the raspberries with the syrup and lemon juice until smooth.
  3. Press the purée through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Use a spatula to push through as much pulp as you can.
  4. Chill the mix 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

Smooth over whatever is left in the tub, put the lid on and return it to the freezer; before serving again, run the Sorbet program or Re-spin once more.

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. This version has more glucose syrup (about 30–32 °Bx) — the sorbet stays softer and smoother even without constant stirring.

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

Excellent with vanilla ice cream, on a chocolate cake or with a mint leaf. Let it stand for 5 minutes until it is scoopable.

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.
  • The raspberry weight is before sieving. Seeds make up about a tenth of the weight — if you leave them in, the sorbet will be more rustic, with a crunch.
  • Blackberry sorbet is made the same way; blackberries are often more tart, so add 20 g more sugar.
  • The egg test — a home sugar check without a refractometer: carefully lower a thoroughly washed and dried egg, still in its shell, into the chilled mix. If it sinks to the bottom, there is too little sugar. If a circle about 2 cm across (roughly the size of a 10-cent euro coin) shows above the surface, the ratio is about right. A larger circle means too much sugar — add water or juice. Then take the egg out. The test is only a rough guide (older eggs float more easily).

Why it works

Raspberries contain a lot of fibre and pectin. Once blended, they thicken the mix much like a stabiliser, so raspberry sorbet needs no extra pectin and is creamy even at lower sweetness. Glucose syrup adds solids without extra sweetness.

Sources