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Homemade sorbets and icecream free from
colourings and preservatives
Summertime is the time for ices. But a luxury icecream makes a wonderful end to a winter meal too. You can make icecreams and sorbets at home with minimal cost and effort. You’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that they’re made without artificial colorants and preservatives. There are no limits to your imagination. Make water ices with apple, peach or lemon juice sweetened with honey. Freeze them in individual plastic pots, stick in a plastic spoon or a wooden stick and after a few hours in the freezer you’ll have healthy – and inexpensive – ice suckers for the kids. For adults you could try tomato juice with pepper and chilli.
Success with fruit sorbets
To make a simple sorbet, mix pureed fruit with sugar syrup, pour into a shallow container and freeze for four to five hours. Normally, if you don’t have an icecream maker, you’d take it out and stir it every half hour to break up large clumps and keep the mixture smooth. If that’s too much trouble, leave it to freeze completely then just before serving take it out, break it up and puree it in a mixer. Try adventurous mixes, such as pineapple sorbet served with prosecco as an aperitif.
Strawberry slush is super for summer
Children love strawberry slush – semi-frozen ice sorbet that they can drink through a straw. Dilute strawberry syrup with water, pour into icecube trays and freeze for at last three hours. Mix chopped strawberries with a little sugar and puree the fruit icecubes in a mixer. Mix everything together, put it back in the mixer briefly and pour into glasses. Serve immediately.
Smoothies for fast sorbets
For a quick sorbet, buy supermarket smoothies, enhance them if you like with a little icing sugar and/or lemon juice and freeze the mix to make a delicious dessert. If you’ve more time puree berries, cherries or other fruit when it’s in season and cheap, sweeten to taste and freeze.
Orange icecream
Make an eye-catching dessert by serving orange icecream in orange skins. Cut oranges in half and scoop out the flesh. Set the skins aside. Push it through a sieve. Heat sugar in milk briefly until the sugar dissolves, add the sieved orange juice, leave the mix to cool, then fold in whipped cream. Spoon the mixture into the empty orange skins and freeze for a couple of hours.
Source: Heike Kreutz, www.aid.de
