Even though grapes are readily available all year around, they are a summer favourite of mine. Grapes, especially the green variety are deliciously refreshing when eaten cold, and I love mine straight out of the fridge. They have this perfect balance of sweetness and ever so slight acidity when they are perfectly ripe which makes them an excellent ingredient for frozen desserts. This green grape sorbet is made without added sugar and is best served on its own.
Fresh fruit sorbets are my go to recipes for me during the summer months. They are an excellent way to use up slightly overripe fruits, which allows you to skip the sugar. In fact, this green grape sorbet even contains a little bit of lemon juice. Partly to maintain the colour since lemon is a natural preservative but most of all because I used very ripe grapes which were almost too sweet.
Sorbets are so incredibly easy to make, and this one is no exception. All you need to do is liquefy the grapes which you can either do by juicing or blitzing them in a blender for a few seconds, just to break them down. Do not over process them, especially if they have seeds or thicker skin since that will turn your grape juice slightly bitter. Strain the liquid through a sieve to remove any skin or seeds and discard the solid parts.
Now all you need to decide is if you want to add a little bit of lemon or not. When tasting the juice keep in mind that flavours weaken when you chill food, so the sorbet will be less sweet than the juice at room temperature. The sorbet will have the best texture when chilled in an ice cream machine, but you can just as well pour it into a flat dish and place it in the freezer. Stir the juice every 30 minutes with a fork to ensure that no large ice crystals are formed, and you will have sorbet that might not be as delicate and scoopable as in the picture below, but it will be just as delicious.
- 1.25kg (2½ lb) green grapes
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- Wash and juice your grapes. Alternatively, you can blitz them in a blender until they fall apart and strain them through a sieve and discard the skin and seeds. You should be left with approximately 1L (4 cups) of juice.
- Pour the juice into an ice cream machine and process it.
- Transfer into a freezer friendly dish and freeze for another 1-3 hours before serving if you want a scoopable sorbet.
I tried both your grape sorbets and while I love the red one more this seems to be a great base for a boozy sorbet.
It might just be. Just don’t add too much alcohol or it will impact the freezing point of the sorbet and cause it to be more of a slushie. Which now that I am writing this sounds delicious!