recipe | lychee sorbet

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A couple of weeks ago, I had a hankering for lychee sorbet. An absolute hankering. And so at about 11pm on a Saturday night, after I’d already showered and put on home clothes (you know the ones; old, soft, comfortable, holey) I got dressed and walked into Newtown with a bee-line for Gelatomassi.

But when I arrived, they told me they didn’t make any lychee sorbet that day.

Big Sad Face.

Now, once upon a time, I would have wallowed in my own despair because I had a hankering, dammit, for a scoop or five of lychee sorbet! And if you don’t have any, where else can I get some?

Well, that was then. This is now. Because I own an ice cream maker, bitches (yes, I’m still that excited about it), so f*** yous all, I’m MAKING MY OWN. (Albeit, it’s not like I had instant lychee sorbet that night, so I ordered lemon sorbet instead and walked home mostly appeased.)

Never the chemist, I was very curious about making sorbet. I mean, effectively it’s just water, but somehow, it doesn’t freeze? Well, thank goodness for Google who explained very patiently, and with all sorts of resources, that sugar requires a much lower freezing temperature than water, so it’s all that sugary goodness that makes it freeze into this perfectly creamy/icy mixture, as opposed to like, an ice block.

Anyhow, this weekend I’m off to Brisbane to hang out with my mum and celebrate her 60th birthday with her. We’re bringing lots of gifts which I can’t talk about here because she’s nosey just like me, but I’m also getting her an ice cream maker which I can talk about here because it’s ALL I’ve been talking about since I got my own. My mum is going to love it!

Lychee sorbet (using an ice cream maker)
1 can of lychees in syrup
1.5 cups water
3/4 cup castor sugar
  1. Pre-freeze your ice cream maker bowl for at least 24 hours.
  2. Separate the lychees from the syrup – you should have about 1 cup of syrup.
  3. Take about 1/4 of the lychees and chop them up finely. This step is optional, if you’d like to add some lychee flesh to the sorbet. Set aside.
  4. In a saucepan, combine syrup, water and sugar and bring to simmer, keep stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
  5. Set aside to cool, and then cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
  6. When you’re ready to churn the sorbet, place the frozen bowl on the ice cream machine, turn on.
  7. Slowly pour in the syrup mixture and let churn.
  8. After about 10 minutes, add the chopped lychees if you want to.
  9. Let churn for about 15-20 minutes in total.
  10. Remove to a freezer container and freeze.
Makes just under 1.5L
Posted in: Eating In, Foodie, Recipes

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