
Making lemon sorbet is like making lemonade with a detour through the ice cream maker. Easy!
We pulled down several Meyer lemons last week to avoid the freeze that hit here in California and I’ve been thinking up things to do with them. As a major lemonade fan, lemon sorbet was a logical choice.
Lemon sorbet is pretty intense — sweet and acidic. I can see why it is often used as a palate cleanser between meal courses. It is best eaten in small amounts.
An added benefit of having some around in the freezer is that if you happen to be in the mood for lemonade, you can take a few scoops and mix it in with some water, and voilà, instant lemonade.
Meyer Lemon Sorbet Recipe
This sorbet can get rather icy if frozen for more than a day or two. If you want a softer, less icy sorbet, try adding 2 teaspoons of limoncello or vodka to the mixture before it goes into the ice cream maker.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 cup freshly squeezed juice from meyer lemons (about 3-4 lemons)
Method
1 Make simple syrup, let cool: In a small saucepan on medium high heat, make a simple syrup by heating sugar, lemon zest, and water until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat, let cool, strain out the lemon zest.
2 Add lemon juice, then chill: Mix in the lemon juice. Chill, either in the refrigerator, or by placing in a metal bowl over an ice bath.
3 Process in your ice cream maker: Once the mixture has thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can pour the mixture into a shallow pan and freeze in your freezer until semi-solid. Then take a fork and fluff it up, returning it the the freezer to freeze firm. Then put in a food-processor or blender to process until smooth.
Place sorbet in an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.
4 Serve: Scoop out preferably with a melon-baller. Garnish with mint.
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STOP! This is inedible.
I think the recipe may be an error.
I wish I’d read the reviews first because I wasted so much time squeezing lemons and waiting for the Ice cream maker
My daughter and I both love sweets, but we can’t eat this.
I thought about making unsweetened ice cream to blend into it, but I think I’m just going to throw it away.
xxxxxyyyyy
I made lemon sorbet for the first time in my life using this recipe and everyone loved it. I dont have an ice cream maker so I used a fork and blender and it turned out great. Thank you so much for the recipe
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Verrrrryyyy sweet! Too much for my taste. But apart from that, it’s very lemony and tasty. I will try to reduce the sugar next time, hoping it won’t affect the texture too much.
xxxxxyyyyy
Hi Elle,
If you reduce the sugar, you can add a little vodka or replace some of the sugar with an invert sugar like corn syrup or honey to help it from getting grainy. That might help.
It was horrible. I usually love lemons in everything and on everything, but this was just disgusting! I followed the recipe correctly and I just don’t recommend anyone making this!
xxxxxyyyyy
Hi Jill,
Sorry this was not to your liking. Did you find it too sweet, or not sweet enough to your taste?
It was wonderfully perfect!!!
I made this for our Valentine feast and it AMAZING!! I only added 3/4 cup of sugar, based on previous comments about the sweetness. Next time I’m going to try a 1/2 cup! My husband loved it, but he has a super “sweet tooth” and I’d like to see if more of the fresh lemon flavor comes through with a bit less sugar. I used our Cuisinart ice cream maker and the consistency was perfect! I did have to freeze it for 4-5 hours, so plan ahead. Overall it was quite easy with delicious results. It’s a keeper!
xxxxxyyyyy
Hi Cortney, I’m so glad you like it!