I had a mildly traumatizing experience this week in the form of food poisoning. I say mildly because in the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t that big of a deal. But as a side effect, there was a period of 4 days where all of the foods I normally love to eat tasted awful to me. For someone that spends much of their time thinking about food, this does qualify as traumatizing.

For example, I think I have eaten an apple every day for the last five years, and on Thursday when I bit into one, I all of a sudden thought the texture was disgusting. Or, take caesar salad. I love caesar salad. It’s creamy, you can put buffalo chicken on it, and it still gives you vegetables. I had a whole bag of romaine in my fridge ready to go for a week of caesar salad dinners. I couldn’t even bring myself to make it one night because of how terrible it sounded. I subsisted largely on saltines.

So, when it came time to decide what to make for the blog, I was in a bit of a pickle. Chocolate sounded like something that would very likely find its way back up out of my stomach the wrong way. Any form of cookie sounded way too sweet to be good. (I know, what was wrong with me??) I stood in my kitchen and tried to think of anything at all that sounded tasty. The only food that came to mind was watermelon, but I have already posted Watermelon Sorbet.

Produce Pete was on in the background and talking about blackberries, but I didn’t think those would make a very good sorbet. However, their cousins raspberries sounded like just the thing!

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Wait, are raspberries in season now and you didn’t realize it? How exciting! Unfortunately, no. And raspberries that aren’t in season are not cheap. Especially in the quantity you would use for a sorbet. So you might want to keep this recipe in your back pocket for awhile until they are.

Regardless, I went for it, and it was totally worth it. I now have a huge tub of raspberry sorbet in my freezer, which is never a bad thing.

So, first, you want to combine the raspberries and water in a food processor with a metal blade, processing until very smooth. I personally still haven’t broken down and purchased a food processor, but made it work using my trusty little blender/food processor/smoothie maker one cup of raspberries at a time. If you are following my methods, it’s one tablespoon of water with each cup of raspberries. Pour the substance through a fine mesh strainer and press down to get as much liquid as possible through into a medium bowl.

Transfer the raspberry puree into an airtight container and chill in the fridge overnight.

Next, it’s time to make some simple syrup. I’m not going to lie, if A&P had this already made, I wouldn’t have made my own. But they didn’t, so here’s how to do it.

In a saucepan, combine equal parts sugar and water. I used 2 cups of each.

Over medium-high heat, continuously stir until sugar is completely dissolved and liquid is clear. This takes about 10 minutes. I went until it was boiling for a couple of seconds just to be sure.

Transfer to a bowl and stir continuously until syrup is cooled. To speed up this process, make an ice bath. Trust me, you don’t want to be stirring for hours.

Once it is chilled, transfer to an airtight container and also chill it overnight in the fridge.

In the morning, or whenever you’re ready to make some sorbet, combine the raspberry puree with 1 1/4 cups of the simple syrup.

Full disclosure – I was so in the sorbet-making zone that I just dumped all of my simple syrup in. Since there was literally no turning back at that point (unless you know of some magic way to suck simple syrup out of raspberry juice), I just continued anyway. I suspect that if you make yours with the right amount of syrup it will be slightly less sweet than mine and definitely a little better consistency-wise. Mine is very soft, even after hours in the freezer. Which, luckily, is fine by me.

Anyways, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker with the the mixer already set on stir. Allow to run for about 10 minutes, give or take, until its the desired consistency.

Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least two hours before serving.

I’ve got a couple of ideas for how you could use this. Obviously, eat it plain with a spoon and you’ll be fine. But I also think that the sweetness would pair really well with a balsamic vinegar reduced into a sauce. Or, you could have it with angel food cake for a light dessert. Finally, if you wanted to go the ice cream sandwich route, I would choose a good sugar cookie for sandwiching.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Sorbet

Ingredients:

• 6 cups fresh raspberries
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons water
• 1 1/4 cup simple syrup

Directions:

1. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process raspberries and water until very smooth.
2. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl, pressing down to get as much liquid as possible.
3. Transfer into an airtight container and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
4. To make the simple syrup: combine 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar in a saucepan. Stir constantly over medium high heat until sugar is completely dissolved and liquid is clear, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl in an ice bath and continue to stir until syrup is chilled. Transfer to an airtight container and chill in refrigerator overnight.
5. Combine raspberry and 1 1/4 cups of the simple syrup in a large bowl.
6. Pour into an ice cream maker attachment of a stand mixer already running on stir. Allow to run for around 10 minutes or until desired consistency.
7. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze an additional 2 hours before serving.