Rhubarb Sorbet

We have been having sorbets as part of part of the menu since the very first Dedham Supper. In the early days we made it as a test and then, because they were so popular, they became part of the regular menu.

Guests tell us that they almost never make sorbets and quite often people think they are difficult or complex. In reality they are one of the easiest things on the menu.

One of the reasons they are so popular is that a sorbet gives you an intense hit of the whatever fruit you are using.

We serve the sorbet after the main course and before the sweet course and it acts as a nice pause between the two.

We serve a relatively small portion – around 50-60ml (around 2fl oz).

Actual preparation time is fairly short but you do need to factor in the freezing time which is why we normally make the sorbet in the morning.

Depending on the sorbet and the freezing time you may need to take the sorbet from the freezer a few minutes before you want to serve it.

Equipment:

Very often we find that people assume that you need an ice-cream maker to create the sorbet. Actually you do not. If you do have an ice-cream maker, then of course you can churn your sorbet but our recipe and method does not require this. You just use your freezer.

Rhubarb Sorbet

Course: Dessert

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

Metric US

400 g 14 oz Rhubarb
80 g 2 5/6 oz Caster Sugar
2 tbsp 2 Liquid glucose
2 tsp 2 vanilla extract
1.0 1.0 Star anise
1.0 1.0 Lemons
40 ml 1 1/3 fl oz Water

Equipment

Knife
Scales
Bowl
Pan
Stirrer
Blitzer or blender – a food processor or hand-blender if fine
Fine sieve

Directions

Get out the equipment
Weigh out the ingredients
Chop off the ends of the rhubarb sticks
Chop the rhubarb sticks into pieces around 2-3cm (1 inch)
Put the chopped rhubarb sticks into the pan
Add the sugar, water, vanilla extract, star anise and liquid glucose to the pan
Put the pan on the heat – bring up to boiling, then turn down the heat to simmer
Check to ensure that the pan is simmering – it should not be boiling hard

After 5 minutes the rhubarb will be starting to break down

After 10 minutes the rhubarb will be completely soft

After 12-15 minutes the rhubarb will have broken down completely
Once the rhubarb is completely soft and breaking apart, turn off the heat and leave to cool for 3-4 minutes
Remove the star anise and discard – you don’t need this any more
Put everything from the pan (that is everything which cooked together less the star anise) and blitz it using your preferred blitzer.
Keep blitzing until you have a smooth puree.
Push the pureed rhubarb through a fine sieve into a bowl (any bowl is fine).
This step will ensure that the puree is completely smooth without any fibres but it is not absolutely essential is you are satisfied with the smoothness.
Juice the lemon
Add the lemon juice (you don’t need the lemon peel)
Put the puree into a freezer container (a plastic food box for example)
Cover with the lid and put into the freezer
After one hour, remove the freezer box and stir the puree with a fork. You should find it is frozen around the edges but not completely frozen. We stir it now to make sure that there are no crystals forming.
Cover again and return the box with the puree to the freezer.

The time to become frozen will depend upon the amount of puree and your freezer.
Typically a smaller quantity will be ready in another hour; a larger quantity will need a bit more time. You can check the consistency each hour.

To serve remove the box from the freezer and test the consistency. It may be ready to serve straight away or you may need to leave it for a few minutes to loosten.