Recipe 33: Watermelon Sorbet

Before the summer winds down, we have one last watermelon season.  In celebration of that glorious moment when watermelon drops to only $2.99 apiece, I chose to make Watermelon Sorbet, which was modified from a Jeni’s Ice Cream recipe.

Watermelon Sorbet is good though a bit thin and utilitarian.  It smells and tastes strongly of watermelon, but the combination of watermelon, corn syrup, and sugar made it very sweet.  Unlike some of the other sorbets I’ve made, it lacks body, and it’s actually pretty difficult to eat a lot of solo.  But there is a solution!  If you mix it with vanilla ice cream, the cream fills it out and smoothes out the flavor, creating this incredibly delicious (and oh-so-cute!) Dreamsicle-esque treat.  If you want to make this recipe, I absolutely recommend grabbing some vanilla ice cream to eat it with.  You’ll be glad you did.

Ingredients

• 1 medium watermelon
• 1/8 cup lime juice (actually, I would probably half this)
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup light corn syrup 

Directions

1. Cut enough watermelon chunks to make about 4 cups.  Remove the seeds and puree the melon in a food processor.  Add in the lime juice to taste and blend.
2. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and ½ cup of the watermelon mixture in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Remove from heat.
3. Combine 2 ½ cups watermelon puree with the syrup in a bowl.  Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
4. Once chilled, pour the sorbet base into an ice cream maker’s canister and churn according to instructions.
5. Once churned, transfer the sorbet into an airtight container.  Seal and freeze for at least 4 hours. 

The resulting sorbet will be crumbly and taste a bit thin but will have a strong watermelon flavor and scent.  It will also be a very cute pink color.  Like I said above, it works best when paired with vanilla ice cream, making a delicious and colorful parfait or milkshake.  It’s the perfect treat to have on a hot summer’s day with a glass of lemonade.  Enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: at least 2 hours
• Sorbet set time: at least 4 hours
• Taste: on its own, it’s sweet and thin with a strong, fruity flavor and scent of watermelon with a hint of lime; works best paired with vanilla ice cream
• Difficulty: low
• Expense level: low
• Makes: approximately 4 cups