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Guest author Garrett McCord and I created this recipe together, a perfect sorbet for spring! ~Elise
I’m not sure what first drew me to rhubarb. Perhaps, it was the name. Rhubarb. It sounds so strange, intriguing, even whimsical.
But it isn’t just the name. That color! From the palest pink to dramatic ruby-red.
And then there’s the flavor of rhubarb—so sour when raw, magically transformed into something floral and fruity when cooked.
This sorbet perfectly captures all that love about rhubarb. Its flavor is touched with a little heat from fresh ginger and a little zing from orange zest which only enhances the pink taste (and I would call the taste pink) of this sorbet .
Rhubarb Sorbet Recipe
Also makes great popsicles! Just pour mixture into popsicle molds and freeze.
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups of chopped fresh rhubarb stalks (4-5 stalks, do not use the poisonous leaves!)
- 2 1/2 cups of water
- 1 2/3 cups of white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons of orange zest
- 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tbsp of corn syrup
Method
1 Cook the rhubarb in water with sugar, zest, ginger, salt: Put the chopped rhubarb, water, sugar, orange zest, ginger, and salt into a 3 to 4-quart pot. Heat on high heat to bring to a boil.
Lower the heat to low to simmer, covered, for 5 minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved and the rhubarb is falling apart tender.
2 Purée and press through sieve: Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Either use an immersion blender or work in batches with a standing blender to purée the mixture until smooth. Press the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove any of the stringy pulp.
Stir in the corn syrup.
3 Chill: Cover and refrigerate until totally chilled, several hours or overnight. (Can more quickly chill in the freezer if you check it and stir it every 15 minutes.)
4 Process in ice cream maker: Process in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Note that right out of the ice cream maker the sorbet will have a soft consistency. If you would like it to be firmer, put it in a covered container and freeze it for a few hours.
Once frozen, you may need to let it sit for a few minutes at room temperature to soften before serving.
Alternatively, pour into popsicle molds and freeze for rhubarb popsicles!
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Garrett McCord is a professional writer and recipe developer whose work has appeared in many print and online publications such as Gourmet Live, Saveur, Huffington Post, Smithsonian, and NPR. Past clients also include numerous food companies, wineries, and distilleries. Garrett writes about cocktails on his website, Coupe de Grace.
Rhubarb Sorbet
Can I use sweetener instead of sugar? Can I use honey instead of corn syrup?
Hi Lisa,
Yes, you could use honey instead of corn syrup, because they are both invert sugars (which keep the sorbets from being too grainy or icy). But when you say sweetener, do you mean sugar replacer? If so, we’ve not tried it, so I can’t say. We’d love to hear how it turns out of you do try it!
This was so yummy! I used lemon zest instead of orange, and honey instead of corn syrup to use what I already had at the house. I also skipped the sieve step as I feel it was unnecessary. I chopped my rhubarb very small and it blended to a smooth consistency with no strings or lumps. I also didn’t have an ice cream maker, so I put the sorbet in the freezer and mixed it every 20 minutes or so to stop it from freezing solid. By skipping the sieve and not letting it freeze solid the texture turned out perfectly soft!
xxxxxyyyyy
This is AWESOME! I added about a cup of sliced strawberries since I didn’t have enough rhubarb and used about a
tbsp.of orange juice instead of the peel. I added 3 slices of ginger which I removed when I puréed the mix. I will try making this with frozen rhubarb when I am unable to get fresh.
xxxxxyyyyy
This has become a family favorite. It’s especially good with a rich flourless chocolate cake recipe – the chocolate and rhubarb complement each other really well.
@jonathan the lemonladies.com in Redwood City , ca sends out lemons once a year around dec through feb or March look them up on line