Fresh Fruit Sorbet

Photo: flickr user norwichnuts

Ingredients

4 cups chopped or mashed fresh fruit

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or orange juice

Preparation

Beat together the fruit puree, sugar, and juice. 2. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions.

Taste the fruit you plan to use. If you1re not tempted to keep right on eating it, it's probably not good enough for sorbet. The fruit has to be the best of its kind. Cold blunts the taste, so if the flavor of the fruit isn't strong at the start, the sorbet will be bland. You can try other sweeteners, such as honey, maple syrup and fruit juice concentrate, but sugar amplifies the taste, since cold temperatures numb you to it. Every batch of sorbet is going to taste different, determined entirely by the flavor of the fruit and proportion of ingredients.

Option: You can Add Dried Fruit: You can intensify the flavor of any sorbet by using softened, pureed dried fruit: Soak the dried fruit (apricots, bing cherries or peaches, for example) in any flavor fruit juice to cover. When thoroughly soft, puree the dried fruit together with the fresh fruit. Proceed with the basic recipe.

Option: Give a kick to your sorbet with a tablespoon of rum, vodka, grand Marnier. Add it to the basic mixture before freezing.