Plum Sorbet

Simple Plum Sorbet made with fresh sliced plums, lemon juice, sugar, and a little Grand Marnier.

Plum Sorbet
Elise Bauer

Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord who turned a few of our ripe plums into a "wow-that's-good" sorbet. ~Elise

I developed this recipe out of necessity rather than noble ingenuity.

Every summer Elise's mother loads me up with so many plums I can't eat them all in time, and many begin to get a bit over ripe, their skins bursting at the slightest touch sending their juice down my arms and onto my clothes and floor.

Taking these plums and churning them into a magenta hued sorbet just seemed like the most logical thing to do in this heat. Sweet, tart, and smooth it's a wonderful way to enjoy fresh plums at the height of their season.

This sorbet is just sweetened enough in my opinion, but taste as you go and add more or less sugar accordingly as some of the plums we used were very tart.

In addition, this recipe could easily be adapted to overripe apricots or pluots as well.

Plum Sorbet

Prep Time 40 mins
Total Time 40 mins
Yield 1 quart

While the alcohol in this is optional, a small amount will help keep the sorbet from getting icy if you plan to store it in the freezer.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups of sliced plums, pits removed
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of Grand Marnier (optional)

Method

  1. Blend plums, sugar, lemon juice, salt:

    Place the sliced plums, sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a blender and purée until very smooth.

  2. Strain out solids:

    Push the plum puree through a fine mesh sieve to catch and large pieces of skin and discard them.

  3. Churn in ice cream maker:

    Mix the Grand Marnier to the purée just before churning. Place the purée in an ice cream machine and churn according to instructions, for approximately 25 minutes.

  4. Serve or freeze:

    Serve immediately or place in an air tight container and put in the freezer for two hours to firm up.