Grape Sherbet

GRAPE SHERBET

During the hot and humid (and often very dry) days of August garden work slows down outside but continues inside with canning.  It is while working over a hot stove and keeping jars filled to can that I am most thankful for central air.  Years ago when I was younger and my children small we had a large window unit to try and combat the summer heat that never could keep up with the canning season.  By the end of the day the last thing I wanted to do was cook supper after working at the sweltering stove all day so I’d often pack sandwiches and our family would head down to the nearby park to try and cool off.  Sometimes I would grill hot dogs or hamburgers for supper on our small grill in the front lawn under the largest tree- before grilling outdoors became fashionable- just to get out of the hot kitchen. Today with central air, I’ll take a break from canning in the afternoon indoors and enjoy an ice cream cone- something the younger generation takes for granted.  Growing up ice cream cones and homemade ice cream was a rare treat.

I’ve always loved the taste of sherbet fascinated by its rainbow array of colors and flavors.  To my dismay this summer I noticed that sherbet was nowhere to be found in the ice cream frozen section of the stores.  I don’t know if the demand for sherbet has decreased until the managers have decided not to stock it anymore or what. So I was quite delighted while organizing my pile of recipes to try one hot afternoon to discover an article and recipe on how to make sherbet. I couldn’t believe how simple sherbet is to prepare.  All it takes is fruit juice and a simple syrup water combination that you freeze together. I had just harvested and made grape juice earlier in the week and had some juice left over after make grape jelly.  Even though grape juice wasn’t listed in the fruits (I can’t imagine how it was left out considering all the fruits you’d first think of like strawberry, blueberry, orange etc they had grapefruit, watermelon, and even tea) I decide to make some Grape Sherbet.  My Grape Sherbet was absolutely delicious and turned out perfect.  Talk about a classy desert! Needless to say I am hooked on making sherbet.

GRAPE SHERBET

2 c grape juice or any other fruit you desire that is pureed and chilled

2 c simple sugar syrup

Combine the juice and syrup together with a Wisk. To make sure the mixture has the right density drop an egg into the mixture (I washed the egg first) and submerge it completely.  If the egg floats to the top with only part of the shell showing about the size of a quarter the mixture is ready to freeze.  If the egg doesn’t float add more sugar syrup.  If too much egg is exposed add more juice.  Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze like you would ice cream.  The finished sherbet should be smooth and thick. Freeze 2 hrs or overnight before serving.

Tip:  To make a simple sugar syrup bring to a boil equal amounts of water and sugar (like 2 c of sugar and 2c of water) and then let cool!