The River Café's Strawberry Sorbet

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Genius Recipes says: A genius recipe from the London River Cafe Cook Book by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray.

Makes 1½ quarts

  • 2-3 lemons, 1 seeded and roughly chopped and the others juiced
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 pounds strawberries, hulled
  1. Place the chopped lemon and sugar in a food processor, and pulse until combined. Transfer to a bowl.
  2. Purée the strawberries in a food processor, and add to the lemon mixture, along with the juice of 1 lemon. Taste and add more juice as desired. The lemon flavor should be intense but should not overpower the strawberries. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn until frozen.

Comments (38) Questions (7)

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about 1 month ago lllooolll

wish i had done this for my food tec class. made it at home and it was a winner

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7 months ago marley16

this is fabulous! I am making for the second time this week. I may add some alcohol so it doesn't freeze as hard.

Epietzsch

over 1 year ago borntobeworn

We're at the beach and I made this last night - YUM!! So glad I upped the quantity a little so we have plenty for tonight too.

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over 1 year ago Chubby Broccoli

I made this with Meyer lemons and it cranked the insane deliciousness up to eleven. One of the all-time great summer desserts and way too easy.

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over 1 year ago tufftuck

Where can I find that little metal bowl? Is it zinc?

Miglore

over 1 year ago Kristen Miglore

Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52

Amanda says that cool little bowl is actually aluminum and she got them at a store in London called Divertimenti: http://www.divertimenti...

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over 1 year ago tufftuck

Where can I find that little bowl? It looks like it's zinc.

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over 1 year ago Red Jet

Made this last night with 1/2 the sugar - AMAZING!! Very easy and very tasty!

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over 1 year ago Margaret McCormick

Made this recipe using frozen berries, slightly thawed, and it came out great. In a word, the flavor is INTENSE. And the color is beautiful. Learned something using my brand new 1.5 quart Cuisinart ice cream maker (recommended by food52): this recipe is a little too large for the freezer bowl. My kitchen counter was quite the red mess. But that's a small price to pay for something so tasty. Live and learn! :0)

Miglore

over 1 year ago Kristen Miglore

Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52

Thanks for the report, Margaret -- glad it mostly worked for you! I've been trying to figure out why yours overflowed, even though it fits in my ice cream maker (which, I think, is the same model). I'm wondering if it could be the difference in volume between 2 lbs. fresh berries, which then get the stems/hulls lopped off after weighing vs. 2 lbs. frozen berries, which have already been hulled? It sounds like the strawberry weight should be decreased by a few ounces when using frozen berries (especially when using a 1.5 quart machine!). Thanks for being the guinea pig!

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over 1 year ago haeema

"uni

19 days ago
If you don't have an ice cream maker, freeze the hulled berries first then process with the pureed sugar and lemons and you'll be ready to go. You might need an hour or two in the freezer. "

I used this version substituting Splenda for sugar since my family is diabetic. It was a smashing hit!

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over 1 year ago akt

I was really skeptical about using the whole lemon, but wow, the flavor is amazing!

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over 1 year ago KelsoKitchen

Love the chunks of lemon--it really made this a standout sorbet. I also found it a tad sweet but it made it perfect for pairing with the Prosecco we were drinking to celebrate our anniversary. I think I'll try pairing it with margaritas next.

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over 1 year ago Karen Savoie

do you need to use ice cream maker

Miglore

over 1 year ago Kristen Miglore

Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52

You don't, but it will have a slightly icier texture -- check out Annelle's helpful report of her results, with and without an ice cream maker here: http://bit.ly/osgB3S

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over 1 year ago CarolineR

Can I use a sugar substitute? My husband is diabetic.

Miglore

over 1 year ago Kristen Miglore

Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52

There are a couple great alternatives for diabetics in the comments on the original blog post here: http://bit.ly/khQWP3

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over 1 year ago ccandela

Made this tonight. It was INCREDIBLE. At first I thought it might be a little bit too sweet but the tartness definitely balanced it out. I'm in love with this and am kind of glad my husband doesn't like strawberries because I can eat the whole thing by myself... (over a period of several days that is... )

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over 1 year ago CharlieR

I think it is all about taste.

I just made this..... It's wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made it with the two cups of sugar; a large chopped lemon; and 1/2 large lemon juiced.

It is just right for us.

Fabulous recipe!

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over 1 year ago oishii desu

Perhaps this will "out" me for my culinary immaturity, but I just made this, and it just tasted...pithy...I added a touch more sugar during churning to see if that would lessen it - it did, to an extent but it's definitely still there...again, could just be me and my immature taste buds - Maybe if I try it again I will stick to just the fleshy insides of the lemon...the pithy aftertaste is there too. Just me?

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over 1 year ago zingyginger

I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup, used 2 large lemons (1 chopped, 1 juiced) and passed it through a food mill to get all the little pieces of bitter pith that I kept finding while tasting. It still seems a tad on the sweet side but what gorgeous color and wonderful flavor! Thanks for posting this recipe and for all the helpful comments!

Ozoz_profile

over 1 year ago Kitchen Butterfly

Making this right now - excited. First up, the lemon and sugar mixture is AWESOME. Oh my word - it would make a stunning base for a light cake. Having just made a Sicilian orange cake which was a winner, I'm going to try this technique in the recipe! Wonderful. So excited. Thank you

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over 1 year ago SarahM

Tried this over the weekend and loved the technique. But I found the sugar and lemon overwhelmed the strawberry flavor just a bit. Next time, I'll try cutting those ingredients by a third each.

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over 1 year ago LizK

Made it for the Fourth, using berries that were teetering on the edge of being over-ripe. This was amazingly good. My only caveat was that the pieces of lemon rind were a little distracting; maybe I should have left it a little longer in the processor.

Ozoz_profile

over 1 year ago Kitchen Butterfly

I made sure I pureed my lemon fine. I can see how if they were chunky, it would affect the taste. I wonder if this would be a great starter for an icecream float. Or sorbet float as the case may be!!!!!!!!!!