I love the way good basic recipes can be rejigged to suit different occasions and ingredients. I originally made a mango and lime sorbet (more accurately called a sherbet, see FAQ below for details); then when I needed something to accompany a friend’s chocolate tart I used the base recipe to create this raspberry version. It’s fun served in mini waffle cones to feed a crowd, and delicious with a wild raspberry eau de vie, like Massenez Framboise Sauvage. I use Crawley’s raspberry syrup but you could use a simple sugar syrup made by dissolving sugar in an equal volume of water. See video below for another delicious fruit dessert.
Serves 8
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The difference lies in whether eggs or dairy are added and also how much air is churned into the mixture. See below for details.
Sorbet (sorbetto in Italian) is fruit puree and sugar that’s churned until smooth then frozen, it doesn’t contain dairy or egg.
Sherbet is sorbet with dairy added.
Ice Cream is traditionally custard-based so contains dairy (usually cream as the name suggests) and egg.
Gelato is the Italian word for ice cream; it differs from ice cream in that it’s made with more milk than cream and usually without egg, the lower fat content means that when it’s churned it holds less air so it has a more intense flavour.
Granita is scraped repeatedly while freezing rather than being churned, so it has a crunchier, icier texture; it usually doesn’t contain dairy or egg.
Parfait is an ice cream mixture that is frozen without churning, so it contains less air and is icier and less creamy than regular ice cream. Italian semifreddo is similar.
Not all sugars behave the same way in cooking. Glucose is often added to frozen desserts to give a smoother texture as it doesn’t crystallise the way the simpler sugars (sucrose and fructose) do. Corn syrup or invert sugar do the same job.
Not all sugars behave the same way in cooking. Glucose is often added to frozen desserts to give a smoother texture as it doesn’t crystallise the way the simpler sugars (sucrose and fructose) do. Corn syrup or invert sugar do the same job.