29 replies to this topic

[Rachel Perlow]

OK, the watermelon is deseeded, pureed & strained. I have Lemons, Persian and Key Limes in the house. Sugar, check. Corn Syrup, check. Water, obviously. I've found several recipes on the internet and am amazed at how different the proportions are. I'm not averse to adding some alcholol either. Here are some ingredient lists:

Recipe #1
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 cups pureed watermelon (I think this is supposed to be 2 lbs, because it later says to "add 3 cups of watermelon puree...")
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Recipe #2
2 1/2   lb           Watermelon (2 cups when deseeded & pureed)
    1       c            Sugar -- minus 1 tablespoon
    2       tb           Lemon juice
    1       tb           Vodka

Recipe #3 - from the National Watermelon Board
1/2 medium watermelon, sliced lengthwise
1 (6 ounce) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed and undiluted
1 (15 1/4 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1/2 cup sugar
Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

Recipe #4 (with Lime)
1 quart         Watermelon pulp
1/3  cup           Sugar
2 T Lime juice

Some others suggested adding beaten egg whites, but I don't want to go that route. This will be served alongside Watermelon Ice Cream with Chocolate Seeds, so I don't want the sherbet consistancy. But, I don't want the finished product to be a rock hard ice either. Which recipe would you choose, how would you modify it? I don't want to add geletin either and I think they all need a pinch of salt. TIA.

[MatthewB]

Recipe 4 w/ pinch of salt. If desired, use to make Watermelon Highballs--your choice of liquor.

Edit: grammar

Edited by MatthewB, 09 July 2003 - 10:49 AM.

[Priscilla]

Rachel I make watermelon sorbetto from a Marcella Hazan recipe that was so good, but I can't remember at the moment which of her books it's in.

It was simple syrup, pureed watermelon, lemon. (And I'd second you on the pinchy-pinch of salt.) But the key was how she pointed out how the mixture doesn't taste like much of anything (very very subtley watermelony) until you add whatever citrus juice in critical mass ... it's like nothing, nothing, nothing ... WHAMMO! Superultrawatermelon.

Hmmm got the second half of a beautiful watermelon roosting in the fridge even as I type...

[Rachel Perlow]

Side note: How do you store your leftover watermelon? I've taken to placing it (round end down) in a bowl, and covering with plastic wrap. I found that when storing the plastic wrapped watermelon on its side, the juice tended to leak on the fridge shelf. The plastic wrap also clings better to the bowl than the watermelon rind, so the cut edge stays fresher as well. (This is my fourth watermelon of the summer, so I've been experimenting.)

[Priscilla]

I seal the remaining half or quarter or whatever in a plastic bag. Occasionally we will pre-chunk and put in a refrigerator container with an air-tight lid.

[Rachel Perlow]

Oh, I'll do that too if there's only a small amount left. But, since it's usually just the two of us eating that watermelon, it stays fresher longer if kept intact. I just keep slicing a couple inches off the top to cut up at a time.

[guajolote]

I'm going to make #4 tonight. Thanks for the great idea.

[bloviatrix]

In order to keep your sorbet slightly soft and easy to scoop, you might want to add some alcohol (1 or 2 ounces) to whatever recipe you settle on to counteract the high water content of the watermelon puree.

[Rachel Perlow]

Hmm, maybe I'll use the chambord for the ice cream (see Problems with Ice Cream thread), and the Passoa for the sorbet. Or would the flavor get lost if I use Lime and Mint, maybe I should just use a little vodka?

Blo - how much alcohol per quart of puree?

[elyse]

Are you making this for Saturday?

[Rachel Perlow]

Yes.

Here's my current working recipe, which should yield about 1 qt. Any more comments before I make it?

Watermelon Sorbet

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 handful of whole Mint leaves
1/4 tsp salt
Citrus: Juice and finely grated zest of 1 Lemon, 2 Limes or 3 Key Limes
3 cups pureed watermelon flesh (seeded & strained)
1 T Rum (if using Limes) or Vodka (if using Lemon)

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a saucepan. Stir until it boils. Reduce heat, add mint leaves and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain out mint leaves, add salt and citrus zest, then refrigerate. Add watermelon and citrus juice to the cold syrup mixture. Freeze in ice cream machine until of a soft consistency. Spoon into air tight container and firm in the freezer for a few hours before serving.

[MatthewB]

Limes rather than lemons.

Why the corn syrup?

[Rachel Perlow]

Limes rather than lemons.

Why the corn syrup?

I'm planning on using Key Limes. I just figured, for posting the recipe, that I'd specify options.

Re: Corn Syrup - From the Problems with Ice Cream thread:

Just tasted it after a few hours hardening in the freezer. It got quite firm, probably due to the low overrun. I think 20 minutes in the fridge before serving will be necessary. It is a little icy, but no big ice crystals. I stored in pint & half pint containers, so I don't think there's too much danger of the melting/refreeze ice crystals forming.

try adding a little corn syrup next time to the mix you heat.
It might help the ice cream not get so hard and will help stop the formation of ice crystals.

[MatthewB]

Ahhh, on the corn syrup.

Sounds like tasty stuff is coming up in your kitchen!

Enjoy.

[bloviatrix]

Blo - how much alcohol per quart of puree?

The advice for adding alcohol to sorbets with high water content comes from David Lebovitz's Room for Dessert (p.107). He says you can add or eliminate it according to taste, but his standard seems to be 2 tablespoons/quart for vodka and 1/4 cup/quart for champagne.

[elyse]

Does the mint go in for the entire mixing, or at the end?

[Rachel Perlow]

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a saucepan. Stir until it boils. Reduce heat, add mint leaves and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain out mint leaves, add salt and citrus zest, then refrigerate. Add watermelon and citrus juice to the cold syrup mixture. Freeze in ice cream machine until of a soft consistency. Spoon into air tight container and firm in the freezer for a few hours before serving.

See bold.

I have added this to RecipeGullet, click here.

[elyse]

Der. Sorry!

[tan319]

Rachel,
I was going to suggest using Absolut Citron for your vodka.
BTW, if you're really into this sorbet thing, a pese de sirop will blow your mind.
You can pick one up at JB Prince next time you're in the city. It's been discussed in the forum before on one of the sorbet and ice cream threads, it will cost you around 20 to 40 bucks and it will help you make your stuff fantastic all the time as pertaining to the consistancy of your mix.
One of my chefs can't believe how great the sorbets scoop,etc.
I didn't have any puree's this morning for a sorbet so I made a 'Ginger Lime Ricky' one with ginger infused simple syrup, lime juice and some spanish cava.
Used my 'pese' to adjust the baume and the stuff spun like a wonder!
Not trying to get scientific on you, just thought you might be interested
Hope your sorbet turned out groovy!

[Suzanne F]

Damn! Now I'm tempted to make some sorbet too, just to have a taste-off.

Naw, I can't possibly steal Rachel's thunder. Besides, . . . well, I just want to taste hers! Sounds sooooo good.

What about Bacardi Limon? Maybe I'll get some to pour over?

[Wendy DeBord]

I'm more of a purist, I wouldn't use mint or citrus zest in a watermelon sorbet. They would over power the watermelon, too much for me.

Love the idea of Absolut Citron!

O.k. please tell me more about this "pese de sirop" I'm not familar with it? If it adjusts the baume why don't you just make a denser syrup? It makes me think of corn syrup...............

[Jason Perlow]

Actually instead of Absolut Citron we are going to use Cruzan Citrus Rum -- combined with the lime it should give it that sorta Mojito flavor.

[tan319]

Actually instead of Absolut Citron we are going to use Cruzan Citrus Rum -- combined with the lime it should give it that sorta Mojito flavor.

Cool.
It seems the rum would kind of take away from the watermelon taste but heck, who knows?
Hope it turns out great!

[KatieLoeb]

Rachel:

When this is finished, and assuming the recipe comes out as wonderfully as it sounds, would you be so kind as to post the finished recipe (and/or tweaked recipe) in the Archives for the rest of us?

I can't wait to hear how this turned out and know I'll be able to find it later when I know I'll want to make it!

[Rachel Perlow]

I already posted it and linked to it above, but here's the link again: Watermelon Sorbet.

I used a combination of Key Lime & Persian Lime and the Cruzan Citrus Rum. I think the sorbet would be fine with either the Lemon or the Lime, but not the Key Limes, they're a little bitter and a pain to juice. It's been in the deep freeze for several hours and is still of scoopable texture, so hopefully it won't go rock hard by Saturday.

The mint is really very subtle. The sorbet could use more to bring it up to the barely noticable level, but I wouldn't go subbing in mint extract. That would be too obvious, better to leave it out if you don't have any or aren't sure about using it.

[elion_84]

I was looking for a watermelon sorbet recipe and found this one on RecipeGullet. I had a piece of a nice watermelon from the farmers market, so I made it last night. Well, the resulting sorbet is way too sweet. It got a little better after sitting in the freezer overnight, but still the cloying sweet aftertaste is these.

Is it supposed to be very sweet? Can I un-sweeten the sorbet I have by adding more water and/or watermelon pure?

[Jason Perlow]

Some types of watermelon, like Sugar Babies, have a very high sugar content compared to some of the other kinds. Typically for this recipe we use regular large, seeded watermelons.

Some of the smaller unseeded watermelons are less sweet and thus make better candidates for this sorbet. You can tweak the recipe by adding more lime juice and cutting down on the amount of added syrup and sugar.

[slarochelle]

Good timing on bringing this thread back up, I've got a watermelon waiting to be turned into something.....

I have a question on the Watermelon Sorbet recipe though. What is meant by: "3 c pureed Watermelon flesh (seeded & strained) "

Is this it: I cut a big hunk of watermelon, it is seedless so no need to seed. Run it through the food processor, and put it in some cheese cloth to drain the liquid. Once drained, I'm looking for 3 cups of the remaining pulp/solid? That seemed strange to me, as I thought I saw other recipes that used the strained liquid and not the remaining pulp.

[docsconz]

I have found that the addition of cinammon to watermelon and /or watermelon sorbet adds a nice touch. The flavors really go well together and make it a little more unique.

[abooja]

I made watermelon sorbet last night/this morning, from a recipe in The Perfect Scoop and it was bland as can be. This is likely my fault. I had some watermelon scrapings and juice left over from creating a watermelon basket and decided to use that watery stuff rather than waste perfectly good watermelon chunks that I'd rather just eat. The result was a watery, not-very-sweet-at-all concoction that scoops well and is very refreshing, but relatively tasteless.

Based on what I just read, however -- particularly from Priscilla about Marcella Hazan -- I wonder if using really sweet, juicy watermelon will really improve my end result unless I add much more than the one tablespoon of lime juice called for in the recipe.

Thoughts, anyone? Is watermelon sorbet really worth it, or should I stick to just eating the watermelon as is?