Apple and Blackberry Sorbet

It’s that time of year again; summer is just about leaving us, but the first fruit of autumn is coming out to play [with our taste buds]. As you might have seen from my instagram (click the icon to the right, or follow @frugalfeeding) my apple tree is positively dripping with fruit – it is quite the sight to behold. This means that I can either let them rot, sell them or make delicious things with those that we don’t eat. The first of those options doesn’t bear thinking about; it simply wouldn’t be frugal. The second would mean having to traipse into town carrying a sack of apples, something I’m too lazy to do. So, by process of elimination the third option is the one that has been plumped for and look what happened – apple and blackberry sorbet. Even the blackberries were from a bush at the back of my garden. The only fruit left for me to make something with are our damsons.

This is a recipe best made with freshly pressed apple juice, though it would probably be fine if made with a good quality cloudy apple juice. If, like me, you haven’t a press, then all you have to do is to core 10-12 apples, cut them up and create a pulp by blending them in a food processor. Pop this mulch into muslin or a tea towel and strain it into a bowl. Do not do this with the blackberries since they are likely to ruin your cloth, so it is necessary to pass these through a sieve. Make sure you’re using eating apples for this recipe; otherwise you’ll probably have to add half a kilo of sugar in order to make it barely edible, whereas I’ve used a mere 20g. A sorbet like this, in which the flavour of the apples is easily masked, needs to be as natural as possible, so adding too much sugar is something to be avoided.

The best thing about this sorbet is that it is made entirely from fruit juice and not from concentrate like some shop bought sorbets. This means that you don’t tend to encounter that rather mischievous trait, whereby some of the fruit particles become separated from the water and you’re left with really strong sorbet and ice. Whether one wants to add some pulp to the mixture is entirely up to the person making it. Though if you’re going to do this you may want to add some lemon juice to the pulp before it turns brown. Indeed, that is the reason why this sorbet contains lemon juice in the first place – it adds nothing at all to the flavour. This is the perfect way to see off the summer, which has been relatively non-existent in Britain – but I do like to be polite to my seasons even if they don’t deliver what they promised.

Apple and Blackberry Sorbet

Makes roughly 800ml

Ingredients:

• The juice of 10-12 eating apples, roughly 650ml

• The juice of 100g blackberries, roughly 100ml

• The juice of half a lemon, roughly 50ml

• Sugar to taste, roughly 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Juice the fruit as per the instructions above. Tip the result into a measuring jug, stir in the sugar and allow to chill.

2. Pour this into your ice cream machine and freeze according to instructions. It couldn’t be simpler; one need only defrost this for ten minutes once properly frozen.

Cost: The only thing I had to buy for this recipe was the lemon and the sugar. As a result the entire confection set me back roughly 25p. However, it may be a little more expensive if you were to buy the ingredients from the shop – perhaps £3.50. Though, the price would be a reduced a little if one were to use apple juice from a carton – I take no responsibility for the quality of this, it might be abysmal.