Blackberry and apple sorbet
Using golden syrup instead of granulated sugar gives a softer texture to this smooth, fruity sorbet. Blackberries that you pick yourself from the hedgerow taste far more intense than the big fat ones you buy in the shops, so I would urge you to make this sorbet when the wild blackberries are in season, which can be early to mid-August if the summer has been kind.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
- 1kg cooking apples (about 3 large ones)
- 450g blackberries
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 125g golden syrup
Method
1. Peel, core and chop the apples and drop them into a saucepan, along with the blackberries and lemon juice. Weigh in the syrup, set over a low heat and allow to cook until the fruit is really smooth with a stick blender or liquidiser. Pass the puree through a medium-fine sieve to remove the pips. Set the puree aside to go completely cold – spreading out into a shallow tray will speed the process along considerably.
2. Once the puree is cold, scoop it into a deep-sided tub and put it in the freezer. After an hour in the freezer, remove the tub and pulse the semi-liquid sorbet with a stick blender to break up the ice crystals.
3. Return to the freezer for a further hour, then repeat step 2. The sorbet will eventually take around six hours, or even overnight, to freeze. If you have time, repeat blend once or twice more before finally leaving well alone to freeze solid. Simply put, the more you whizz it up as it freezes, the smaller the ice crystals will become, and the smoother and silkier the final sorbet will be.
By Genevieve Taylor