Sorbet is frozen fruit juice or water sweetened with fruit flavor. Unlike sherbet, sorbet has no dairy ingredient.
In this recipe, fresh coconut water is combined with the syrup from a can of lychees. Tender coconut meat and lychees are cut into small pieces and thrown in. Because there is neither milk nor cream in this frozen dessert, it is a sorbet and not a sherbet.
We make sorbet in an ice cream maker. The blended and chilled coconut and lychees, and their juices are just poured in and the machine churns with no need to stir or intervene in any way. Thirty minutes and the sorbet is done.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, skip steps 6 and 7 in the recipe below. After pureeing everything in the blender, instead of chilling the mixture, freeze it. Once it starts to harden, scrape it with an upturned spoon repeatedly to break large ice crystals. Do this every hour or so to make sure that your sorbet does not freeze into a block of ice.
Coconut and lychee sorbet
Equipment
- Ice cream maker
Ingredients
- meat from two young coconuts
- 1 227-gram can lychees - drained with the syrup reserved
- juice from two young coconuts - about two cups
- 4 tablespoons sugar - or to taste
Instructions
- Cut the coconut meat into small pieces.
- Do the same with the lychees.
- Pour the coconut juice into the blender.
- Add the sugar, coconut meat and lychees.
- Pulse, or process, depending on how fine or coarse you want the coconut meat and lychees.
- Mix with the lychee syrup and chill for six hours.
- Pour the chilled mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions.
- To serve, scoop as you would your ice cream.
- Top with fresh mint leaves, if you like.
