Fruit Sorbet

Name: Fruit Sorbet
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 6 h 40 min
Total time: 7 h
Ingredients: 150 g (¾ cup) sugar; 150 ml (⅔ cup) water; 30 g (1½ tbsp) glucose syrup, golden syrup or light corn syrup, optional, for a smoother texture; 1 pinch fine sea salt; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) ripe fruit purée: raspberries, strawberries or mango, weighed after puréeing and sieving; frozen fruit is fine; 30 ml (2 tbsp) lemon or lime juice, adjust to taste

One clean, intense fruit and a precise sugar balance

Makes: about 750 ml
Hands-on: 20 min
Total: 7 h
Level: Easy

Sorbet is fruit, sugar and water, frozen smooth. It is only as good as the fruit and the balance of sugar, which controls how soft it scoops. This master recipe works for raspberry, mango, lemon or strawberry, with or without an ice-cream machine.

Ingredients

Base

150 gsugar (¾ cup)
150 mlwater (⅔ cup)
30 gglucose syrup, golden syrup or light corn syrup (1½ tbsp)optional, for a smoother texture
1 pinchfine sea salt

Fruit (choose one)

500 gripe fruit purée: raspberries, strawberries or mango (1 lb 2 oz)weighed after puréeing and sieving; frozen fruit is fine
30 mllemon or lime juice (2 tbsp)adjust to taste

Diet: Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-free, Dairy-free
Allergens: None of the EU 14
Season: Summer

Method

Heat the sugar, water, syrup and salt in a small pan, stirring, until the sugar dissolves completely, about 2 minutes. Cool. 5 min
Blend the fruit until smooth. For berries, push through a fine sieve to remove the seeds; weigh out 500 g.
Stir the cooled syrup and lemon juice into the purée. Taste: it should taste slightly too sweet and very intense, as cold dulls both. Add more lemon if it tastes flat.
Chill until very cold, at least 2 hours. 2 h
Machine method: churn until thick and like soft snow, 20–25 minutes. No-machine method: freeze in a shallow metal container, beating with a fork every 30–45 minutes 4–5 times until smooth, or freeze solid in ice cube trays and blitz in a food processor until creamy. 25 min
Transfer to a container, cover the surface with baking paper and freeze 3–4 hours until scoopable. Soften 5–10 minutes in the fridge before serving. 4 h

Why it works

Sugar dissolved in water lowers its freezing point, so a sorbet with the right amount of sugar freezes into a soft, scoopable mass of tiny crystals instead of a solid block. Too little sugar (under about 20%) and it's icy; too much (over about 30%) and it stays slushy and won't set. Glucose syrup limits crystal growth further, and acid keeps the fruit flavor bright through the cold.

Common mistakes

Underripe fruit. Freezing mutes flavor; use the ripest, most fragrant fruit you can find.
Cutting the sugar to make it healthier, which gives an icy, hard sorbet.
Skipping the taste test before freezing.

Variations

Lemon sorbet: Use 250 ml lemon juice, the zest of 2 lemons and 250 ml water instead of the fruit purée, and increase the sugar to 220 g.
Herb: Infuse the warm syrup with a handful of basil or mint for 15 minutes, then strain; good with strawberry or lime.

Make ahead and storage

Keeps 2 weeks in the freezer, tightly covered. Best texture in the first 3 days.

Notes

The target is about 25% sugar in the finished mix, counting the fruit's own sugar: that is soft-scoopable straight from a home freezer. Raspberries and strawberries carry about 5–7% sugar, so 500 g purée plus the syrup here lands at roughly 24%. If using very sweet fruit such as mango (about 14% sugar), reduce the sugar to 110 g and add more lime. A quick check without a refractometer: a clean raw egg in its shell, lowered into the finished mix, should float with a patch about the size of a small coin showing; if it sinks, add syrup, and if a large patch shows, add purée or water. Check glucose or corn syrup labels if serving someone with celiac disease.