Again, I was left wondering "What in hell am I going to do with all this rhubarb"? when like a javelin flung by the mighty Xerxes I an icy shard of an idea struck me: sorbet! Which I much prefer over ice cream and sherbet, and is also a culinary adventure for me because I've never made it before.
Prep time: about 1 hour to 1½ hours.
Cooking time: none.
Est. servings: 10 -12.
Today's Specimen
Ingredients
- 4 cups rhubarb, chopped ½".
- ⅔ cup evaporated cane juice
- ¼ light agave nectar
- 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp. fresh ginger, mashed
- 3 cups water
Directions
- Heat up water, sugar, and lemon juice in a large sauce pan on medium heat, stirring to absorb the sugar into the water. When it reaches a boil add the rhubarb and ginger and simmer for 10 minutes or until rhubarb is tender.
- Process the mixture with the light agave nectar until the mixture is smooth.
- Cool the mixture in an ice bath in a container until it's cool to the touch and then place in the freezer for half an hour to cool further, checking every 10 to 15 minutes to ensure none of it gets frozen. You want it somewhat cooler than it would be when refrigerated.
- Add the mixture to an ice cream maker of your preferred variety. For those of you who have no ice cream maker there's various ways to make sorbets and iced creams by hand described HERE.
- Before serving let stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes to soften, no more than 10 minutes.
Next Time in the Lab
Seems a tad too sweet to me, though a friend of mine thought it was just fine. Nonetheless, I think I'll eliminate the sugar and just use light agave nectar, and maybe see if a smidgen of lime zest would work well with it.
- Eliminate the ⅔ cup of evaporated cane juice and substitute with ½ cup light agave nectar, making the total light agave nectar used ¾ cups.
- Add ½ tsp. lime zest.
