best-ever grapefruit sorbet

Only fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice will do in this sweet-tart summer sorbet

Grapefruit are the yin and yang of the produce world: two completely opposing flavors, bitter and sweet, impossibly rolled up into one humble citrus fruit. Last weekend, the weather was unseasonably hot and humid here in Philadelphia. Since nothing quenches my thirst like grapefruit, I decided to dust off my ice cream maker and combine two of my long-standing culinary loves, grapefruit and sorbet.

I am not one for hyperbole, but I was blown away by the results. Pretty flecks of the zest tap-dance on your palette providing extra zings of bitterness as lovely counterpoints to the sweetness. This is a sorbet I know I'll be making all summer long. A hint for the hedonists: it would also make a great base for a frozen grapefruit margarita!

Believe it or not, I made this using two ginormous pink grapefruits that I bought at Whole Foods, but you would never guess they were pink from the resulting sorbet color.  Even though the fresh-squeezed juice was a deep rose, since you add water to the recipe, the resulting color is blushing yellow, at best. Next time, I am going to color the sorbet with berry juice using my method for extracting natural food coloring. Enjoy!


Best-Ever Grapefruit Sorbet

• 2 cups fresh-squeezed pink or yellow grapefruit juice [from about 2 jumbo grapefruits]
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• Zest from one grapefruit
• About 1 T beet, strawberry or fruit juice for color [Optional]

Makes a healthy pint and a half

Make grapefruit simple syrup: In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar and 1 cup of the grapefruit juice. Bring to a boil, stir and then turn off heat. Cool for a bit at room temperature and then refrigerate until cold.

Once chilled, mix with the remaining grapefruit juice, zest and coloring juice, if using. Process in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions. Don't worry if it doesn't seem to freeze as quickly as other sorbets might. Once it tempers in the freezer for an hour or two, it should be the perfect consistency.