rhubarb sorbet
rhub sorb! Ideally served with rasp sherb
What I’m reading: I really liked this letter from Laura Dern to her daughter in the Letters of Note Substack
What I’m listening to: my current favourite Fontaines DC song, Favourite :)
What I’m eating: the Layla pain suisse which is cross laminated and so delicious (below)
I’ve made this rhubarb sorbet a couple of times at work now, and it’s been going down a treat. It’s just about still Yorkshire rhubarb season, although I fear it may come to an end soon - but I’m fairly certain this will still work with main season rhubarb. It might not have the same bright pink colour, but I usually think that main season rhubarb (which is more green/red) has a stronger rhubarby flavour - so I guess you win some, you lose some.
This is a really simple recipe that’s basically just a sweetened rhubarb puree, churned into sorbet - with some aromatics to enhance the flavour. It was originally meant to be an allergen-friendly dessert (no dairy, gluten, egg, etc.), but has been very well received by people of all dietary profiles. The rhubarb, once cooked, pureed, strained and churned, takes on this kind of creamy, almost chewy texture which, although entirely accidental, I’m pretty pleased with.
The first time I made this recipe, I made it with 50% sugar (to total trimmed/chopped rhubarb weight). The rhubarb does require a fair amount of sugar, and usually ice-cream/sorbet bases are quite sweet as they lose some of that flavour when served frozen (at -18 degrees). This amount of sugar, however, did affect the setting point of the sorbet (as sugar is an anti-freeze), and it set a little soft for my liking. It tasted good, but wasn’t quite firm enough to scoop neatly. For the next trial run, I reduced the sugar content to 40%, and it worked much better! It froze fairly solid, but wasn’t icy, and was still soft enough to scoop after a minute or two out of the freezer.
I’ve been serving it with roasted rhubarb and a raspberry sherbert that was also a bit of an experiment. I was cleaning out the freezer and found some frozen raspberries that needed to be used, so I defrosted them and then dehydrated them in the combi oven overnight, before blitzing them into a powder with citric acid and sugar. They retained their colour really well, and I love the contrast between the pale pink of the sorbet and the deep magenta of the sherbert.
recipe: rhubarb sorbet
Ingredients
2kg rhubarb, trimmed and chopped into pieces
800g caster sugar
1 orange
6 cardamom pods
1 vanilla pod
Method
Place the rhubarb and sugar in a large saucepan.
Peel the orange, and put in a small square of muslin. Add the cardamom pods. Split the vanilla pod lengthways and add the seeds to the pot, then add the pod to the muslin square. Tie up the muslin square, and add to the pot. Add the juice of the orange.
Put the pot over a medium heat, and put a circle of baking paper on top. Simmer gently until the rhubarb has cooked through.
Remove the muslin parcel, and allow to cool.
Blend in a food processor until smooth, and then pass through a sieve or chinois.
Chill in the fridge overnight.
Churn in an ice-cream machine, and then freeze until fully set.
Serve with poached rhubarb.
