Have you noticed the mind-blowing gelatos and sorbettos popping up in the freezer section lately? The Strawberry Balsamic by\u00a0Gelato Fiasco<\/a> in Maine really is pretty amazing, and don\u2019t even get me started on the Talenti<\/a>\u00a0Salted Caramel\u2026 I\u2019m a bit of an ice cream snob, and ever since I went on an informal backpacking \u201cgelato tour\u201d of Italy in \u201999, I literally dream of standing amidst nearly 100 gelato\/sorbetto options lined along two or three walls in Rome. The scoops were golfball small, perfect for layering on unique flavors like watermelon with green tea without blowing the calorie bank before dinner. I still rave about cantaloupe gelato from a park stand in Padova that was so authentic, I had to spit out a few seeds. No dyes or fake flavorings there!Problem is,\u00a0no place<\/i>\u00a0offers the quality\u00a0and<\/i> flavor selection I devoured in Italy back then. Even on a more recent trip to Italy, I was utterly disappointed: Only the rosemary-berry from the World\u2019s Best Gelato Shop in the Medieval town of San Gimignano<\/a>\u00a0satisfied. Everything else was laden with flavorings and colors, with a significant lack of unique flavors (chocolate, vanilla, nutella \u2013 boooring<\/em>!). Have even the Italians lost their standards? American shops favor the rich and creamy (which is great, and\u00a0\u00a0JP Licks<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0 Toscanini\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0in Boston are pretty dang amazing from a creamy ice cream point of view). But this summer I\u2019ve been craving those unique, real fruit flavors. So after a series of ice cream dreams, I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. Join me, and discover a flavor explosion of refreshing frozen delight\u2026<\/p>\n
Scanning the food blogs, I discovered Italian sorbetto is pretty easy to master and simple in ingredients: just overripe fruit and simple syrup.\u00a0Maybe<\/i>\u00a0a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (to balance sweetness) and a drizzle of liquor (to soften it).<\/p>\n
We\u2019re in the middle of Fruit Season in NH. Admit it: you already have dangerously mushy peaches, melons, or berries hanging around the kitchen \u2013 not quite bad enough to toss but not ideal for eating. Perhaps you also have an\u00a0ice cream maker\u00a0languishing in the closet or collecting frost in your chest freezer? This is the perfect time of year to give it a good wash, and get it chilled and ready to go! (And, if you don\u2019t own an ice cream maker,\u00a0there\u2019s a way around it.<\/a>\u00a0Or you can buy one for the same price as just 4 or 5 pints of good gelato or sorbetto from the store.)<\/p>\n
How to Make Fruit Sorbetto<\/b><\/h3>\nChop and puree your fruit. For the popping flavor, use fruit that\u2019s as ripe as possible without being rotten.<\/div>\n
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Meanwhile, make simple syrup. I know: sugar is not good for you. But this is the secret to smooth (not ice-chunky) sorbet. Simmer 1 cup of sugar with 1\/2 cup water (or equal parts \u2013 different people use different recipes). Junky white sugar has a nicer color and flavor, but you can use organic sugar \u2013 expect it to come out brown-ish in color and a little more like brown sugar in flavor. You may want to chill the syrup before adding it to fruit, or add it to the fruit and then chill the whole thing (which is what I did).<\/div>\n
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Add your simple syrup using the egg trick. Clean an egg well, then put it in the fruit mix \u2013 it should sink to the bottom. Slowly add in simple syrup until the egg floats so that approximately you can see about a quarter-size spot on the egg.<\/div>\n
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Adding simple syrup<\/div>\n
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Whoop, there it is! I was shocked by how much sugar it took. Expect to use approximately one cup of sugar\/simple syrup per quart. Of course you can use less (or no) sugar, but your consistency might not be as good – you’ll have harder sorbet with ice crystals in it. Ultimately I ended up with enough mix for two quarts of ice cream.<\/div>\n
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Chill it for an hour or so til it\u2019s cold.<\/div>\n
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Pour it into your pre-chilled ice cream maker. Don\u2019t have one? See directions\u00a0 here<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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You can eat it right away, but it\u2019s better to scoop it into a container (like those 1-quart plastic deli containers) and let it freeze more solid first. It will keep for a few days. If it gets too frosty for you (if it sits for a while in the freezer), you can thaw it all, then throw it back into the ice cream maker \u2013 you\u00a0can\u2019t<\/i>\u00a0do this with milk-laden ice cream\/gelato, though.<\/p>\n
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Enjoy!<\/div>\n

\n<\/b>
\nBasic Sorbetto Recipe\u00a0<\/b>
\nReady to get started?
\nHere\u2019s a recipe from\u00a0Kitchn<\/a>\u00a0to get you some vague proportions. Makes 1 quart.<\/p>\n
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2 pounds fresh fruit or juice (4-5 cups prepped\/sliced)<\/li>\n
1 cup sugar<\/li>\n
1 cup water<\/li>\n
1-4 tablespoons of lemon juice, optional<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Adding Herbs:\u00a0<\/b>Want to infuse some lemon verbena into your lemon ice? Maybe some pineapple sage into your peach sorbetto? Maybe some basil in your blackberry?
\nTry one of these techniques:<\/p>\n
\n
When simmering the simple syrup, add herbs to the pot. Turn off heat. Let steep for 30 minutes, strain, and use the syrup for your recipe.<\/li>\n
Pulverize the herb and toss it in with the fruit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And in case you\u2019re wondering, \u201csorbet\u201d is the same as \u201csorbetto\u201d \u2013 but I prefer the way the Italians say it!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n
<\/p>\n
Clinical herbalist Maria No\u00ebl Groves sees clients and teaches classes at Wintergreen Botanicals Herbal Clinic & Education Center in Allenstown, New Hampshire.<\/i><\/p>\n
The statements made on this blog have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, prescribe, recommend, treat, cure, or offer medical advice. Please see your health care practitioner for help regarding choices and to avoid herb-drug interactions.<\/i><\/p>\n
This blog originally appeared on the Concord Food Co-op site in 2014 and has been reprinted with permission.<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have you noticed the mind-blowing gelatos and sorbettos popping up in the freezer section lately? The Strawberry Balsamic by\u00a0Gelato Fiasco in Maine really is pretty amazing, and don\u2019t even get me started on the Talenti\u00a0Salted Caramel\u2026 I\u2019m a bit of an ice cream snob, and ever since I went on an informal backpacking \u201cgelato tour\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[532,187,533,534,535,530,531],"class_list":["post-1800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-and-recipes","tag-cantaloupe","tag-fruit","tag-gelato","tag-ice-cream","tag-sherbert","tag-sorbet","tag-sorbetto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1800"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6259,"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1800\/revisions\/6259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wintergreenbotanicals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}