Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable..

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.

September produce markets are like Tiffany’s for fruit lovers. Visit your farmer’s market or roadside stand and you’ll swoon over the sparkling jeweler-like display. If the colors don’t entice you the scents surely will. Local summer fruits like nectarines, peaches, apricots, plums, apples, pears, cherries, blueberries, raspberries and tomatoes (!) at the peak of flavor famously lend themselves to fruit salads, pies, cobblers and crisps, but their fine, gem-like qualities shine brightest in sorbets.

“Sorbet” and “sherbet” come from the Arab word “sharbab” or sharbat.” However, Chinese and Indian cooks are credited with the first sorbet of sorts: they prepared fruit and flower syrups or purées, which they might thicken with basil seed or chia seed or pour over snow. These drinks probably traveled the Silk Road and spread to Persia and other Arab countries and eventually to France and Italy, where creative cooks decided to freeze them.

Stone fruits have soft flesh, which yields a silky purée and the creamiest sorbet. Bananas are an extra special ingredient: they make a sorbet creamy and need no added sweetener. If you’ve an excess of bananas, peel, slice and toss them into a freezer bag. When you crave a creamy, sweet treat pour a cup or two into a food processor. Pulse-purée them alone, with some berries or with a dollop of yogurt or coconut milk and a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg, into the texture of soft serve ice cream. Avocadoes also impart a fatty creaminess and may be frozen.

Sorbets don’t require the complexity of ice cream or gelato. Purée the fruit, sweeten it, season with a touch of citrus and freeze in an ice cream maker. You’ll have a refreshing, creamy dessert, low in calories and full of fruity benefits. If you don’t own an ice cream maker, when the fruit is in abundance, peel, dice and freeze it in freezer bags. When you feel the urge for a fruity sorbet it’s painless to pulse-purée frozen fruit in a food processor with sweetener and flavorings to taste.

Without added sugar and an ice cream maker, frozen fruit purées will be crystalline and known as a (very respectable) “granita.” For a less crystalline, creamier texture, sorbets need sugar or alcohol to lower the freezing point. Play with fruit juice concentrates, maple syrup or honey and frothy egg white, powdered gelatin, coconut milk, nut milk, yogurt, wine or liquor. (A sorbet with milk or egg white is a technically a sherbet.)

Many traditional sorbet recipes overly dilute and sweeten fruit. Freezing dulls sweet taste so sorbet mixtures do need to be a bit sweeter upon eating. Beware of adding water; it will dilute the intense fruity flavor of a sorbet. Instead, add flavorful liquids like coconut milk or fruit juice. To allow the intense fruit flavor to shine sweeten sorbets straight with superfine sugar or with liquid sweeteners like maple syrup or honey instead of sugar syrups. To avoid sugar, sweeten with stevia at the end (a good brand is Sweet Leaf) or toss in banana slices.

Although the flavor of quick food processor sorbets and granitas is lovely, their texture may not rival a traditional sorbet made with lots of sugar or corn syrup in an ice cream machine. Pour the chilled mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and you’ll be scooping out creamy, dreamy sorbets. You may find that you’ll serve these jewel-like sorbets with pleasure and pride. Tiffany’s could do no better.

1/4 cup superfine sugar per cup of fruit depending on the fruit. Start with half in the purée base then add to taste before freezing. Adding less sugar will yield the texture of a shaved ice. For a less sweet sorbet with a creamy texture add a whipped egg white, aquafaba or dried egg white powder. Though it’s controversial, corn syrup adds viscosity and mouth feel to fruit and juices, such as citrus or apple. It’s less sweet than sugar, so cooks can use more of it to bulk out the volume of these juices for improved texture. For a similar effect, use honey to sweeten sorbet, but it’s very sweet and shouldn’t be used for all of the sugar. Try 1/4 cup honey with 1/2

Generally, the best tasting sorbets are from raw, fresh fruit. Apples are an exception. Substitute 1/4 cup maple syrup for half the sugar. Or half brown sugar instead of all white.

2 t. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Whisk ingredients together in a mixing bowl until sugar is completely dissolved. If applesauce is not cold, chill three to four hours in refrigerator.

Transfer mixture to ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. When only making 1 pint, sorbet will churn quickly. Larger batches will take slightly longer.

1/2 C. apple juice or 2 tablespoons frozen apple juice concentrate

Cut bananas into quarter-inch slices, toss with lemon juice, place in a baking dish, and freeze. After bananas are frozen, purée with remaining ingredients in a food processor until creamy-smooth. Serve immediately in chilled cups.

There are many options for savory sorbets: beet-dill, green pea-mint, red pepper-basil or carrot-ginger. But the simplest and most satisfying to start with may be tomato sorbet.

Adapted from Howard Yoon for NPR

6 to 8 medium, very ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded

1 t. sugar or honey, more to taste

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Purée tomatoes in a blender or food processor. Add tomato juice and rest of ingredients to the blender. Blend again until mixture is smooth. Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Taste and season to liking with more sweetener, acid and salt. Freeze mixture in ice cream machine following machine instructions.

A good master sorbet ratio is 4 C. purée to 1 C. sugar and 2 to 4 T. acid. Start with half of each and add remainder to taste. You may use any fruit and any acid with this formula.

5 to 6 C. sliced peaches or nectarines, yielding approximately 4 cups fruit purée

1 C. superfine sugar, divided into 2/3 cup and 1/3 cup or 1/3 cup honey and 1/3 cup superfine sugar, divided

2 to 4 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Flavorings of choice, to taste, like vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon or ginger

Twenty-four hours before making sorbet, put bowl of ice cream maker in freezer.

Blend fruit and 2/3 cup sugar (or the honey) together (reserve remaining sugar for later addition) in a blender or food processor until smooth. If using ground spices or fresh, tender herbs, add while blending.

Strain purée through a fine mesh strainer, extracting as much liquid as possible but not much skin. Stir in part or all remaining sugar to taste. Stir in salt and acid, and taste. Add more of each as needed for desired flavor. Remember, the sorbet will taste less sweet when frozen; salt and acid enhance fruit flavor.

Chill thoroughly, at least 2 hours but preferably overnight before churning in ice cream maker. Sorbet base should be 40°F before churning, and churn according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Transfer sorbet to an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving. Eat within 1 week for maximum freshness.

Nancy Krcek Allen has been a chef-educator for more than 25 years and has taught professional and recreational classes in California, New York City and Michigan. Her culinary textbook is called “Discovering Global Cuisines.”

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