Home made elderberry sorbet topped with frozen raspberries.
Photo © J E Nilsson for CMC 2010
When summer finally arrives in Scandinavia and Northern Europe it hits all of us as a great event that somehow needs to be dealt with and celebrated. The dishes gets lighter, are often served cold and more efforts are put into deserts that might even develop into a full meal, and lets admit it, might end up as the meal itself since it turns out so delicious you start with it, and then you get too full to eat anything more.
I have many favourite ice cream parlors in Sweden as well as in Singapore but occasionally it is fun to see how far you can get on your own with all natural ingredients and a few minutes of efforts.
This is how to make the above sorbet with no special machinery or very complicated ingredients.
You will need:
200 ml elderberry syrup concentrate, make or buy
400 ml water
3 egg whites
3 tbs sugar
A handful of Raspberrys
Do like this,
Put the rich and sugary elderberry syrup in a plastic container in the freezer. Let it sit overnight or until frozen which is usually about 2 hours.
Bring out the now half frozen syrup, stir to soften it up.
In a separate container, whip the egg whites until stiff. Add in the sugar.
Carefully fold down the whipped egg whites into the half frozen syrup.
The sorbet is now mostly “done”. Just put the mixture back into the freezer and stir occasionally, maybe once every hour, until it looks cold enough and have the consistency you want.
Serve and enjoy.
Home made blackcurrant sorbet. Berries and leaf fresh from the garden makes a nice serving. Top with a dash of a sweet cherry liqueur to add passion to the infatuation.
Similar sorbet can be made with almost any kind of syrup you can think of, or mix with champagne or lemon, or experiment with just about any of your favourite flavours you can think of. The Internet abounds in recipes so there is not lack of inspiration to be found on-line.