Green Apple sorbet (pure, fresh and fruity)

Looking for eternal youth? Then this fresh and healthy apple sorbet, made with plenty of apples and relatively little sugar, might be just right for you!

Apples are symbolically often connected with forbidden fruit, either with regard to knowledge or to carnal lust. But in old Nordic mythology, the apples were good things! The Goddess Idun handled the Apples of Eternal Youth: the means by which all of the Gods kept their vitality.  And vitality and health might perhaps be good arguments for promoting this somewhat different Green Apple sorbet.

Idun, Norse Goddess and guardian of Asgard’s Apples of Eternal Youth (here in the company of the charming but notoriously unreliable trickster God Loki)

A different type of sorbet – a little sugar and A LOT of fruit

As you probably know, most sorbets are made with quite a lot of sugar syrup (water and sugar combined), and added flavour (such as fruit):  rather straightforward and certainly the most common type of sorbet.

But there is also another way – to prepare the sorbet with a lot of fruit, and a markedly small amount of  sugar. Let us call this type the fresh fruity sorbet-type (not only characterised by its fresh fruit, but rather its low amount of sugar). For some reason, most of the recipes of this kind I have come across have been French, but calling it “particularly French” would probably be going too far.

Some of these recipes even cut out any added sugar [except for the sugars of the fruits themselves], but unless we deal with bananas, I have never had any success with those: Cold dulls the flavours, and most fruit (save for bananas) are simply not sweet enough for frozen ice cream-type desserts on their own.

The relative lack of sugar also creates problems with the consistency – Sugar syrup in a sorbet does not only provide sweetness, but also structure – too little, and the sorbet becomes icy and hard (too much, and it becomes too sweet and never freezes properly). And what if the fruits are more firm than juicy? Too little liquid in general will not only mean that the sorbet will freeze very hard, but also that the texture and the consistency will reflect this (think “icy, deep-frozen snowball”).

Still, would it not be nice if a mostly-fruity sorbet would work out? Stepping up to the challenge, I set out to prepare a fresh fruity sorbet based on one of the more difficult fruits – apples!

Making Green Apple sorbet  (in the fresh and fruity, non-cooked way)

Apples are firm, which make them quite a tricky flavour for ice creams and sorbets. While one could press them in a juicer and only use the juice, what to do if you also want to include more of the actual fruit? Their firmness typically means that most recipes prescribe cooking down the apples first, in order to gain an apple purée or apple sauce, then to be added to the ice cream/sorbet base. These recipes can, of course, be extremely nice (see, for instance, this recipe for Cider and Apple sorbet!).  But if you are after the non-cooked, “genuinely fresh apple”-flavour, the cooking-methods won’t really help you much.

Let’s find out if the fresh and fruity sorbet method might offer a way forward.

First, take some nice green apples (like Granny Smith).

Chop them up in rather small pieces (if you like, you could peel them but depending on your food processor/mixer, it will probably not make that much of a difference for the texture. Since the skin holds quite a lot of the apple flavour, I’d keep them in. Then again, I rarely sieve off anything from my sorbet fruits. If you prefer the super-smooth sorbet type, however, do follow your heart:-)

Now, put the apple pieces single-layer into the freezer for a few hours to freeze.

A simple plastic bag laid flat in the freezer is a perfect place for the apple pieces (spread them out single-layer, so they do not stick together)

When the apple pieces have frozen, take them out and put them in a food processor/mixer. Churn them to a purée together with some simple sugar syrup, a little lemon juice and a couple of good pinches of freshly ground black pepper (!). Be careful not to overdose on the lemon juice – it is there to avoid a too sweet end-result, and should not overshadow or compete with the green apple flavour.

Who would have thought that green apples go so well together with black pepper? And no, you won’t really taste the pepper in the end.

The churning at this stage will really dictate the final consistency and texture of the sorbet – and just so you know: because of the limited amount of sugar syrup, it will in all cases be extremely difficult to achieve a typically smooth sorbet texture (if you would prefer that, you should add more sugar syrup; read more about that option in the end) . Anyway, do what you can to grind down the structures of the apple pieces.

Once your food processor/mixer has converted your mixture into apple purée, churn the sorbet base in your ice cream machine according to instructions. As mentioned, the sorbet will freeze quite quickly because of the limited amount of sugar. And once stored in the freezer, the sorbet will – unfortunately – freeze rather rock-hard. Clearly, this is a sorbet best enjoyed just after the preparation … otherwise, it will require ample time to de-freeze well before serving.

The final result:  Fresh and fruity sorbet ready to be enjoyed!

Green Apple sorbet – fresh and fruity style. Looks quite lovely, does it not?

Traditional apple sorbets often require some kind of cooking of the apples, so for those in search of “true, unadulterated fruit flavour”, this recipe certainly provides a welcome alternative. The flavour of the green apples comes across with full force!

Critics might perhaps hum about the Fresh and fruity sorbet-type being little more than “frozen fruit purée”. But since there are many varieties in the wondrous Garden of frozen desserts, let’s be more generous than so. Perhaps this particular type of sorbet should be perceived as a kind of ‘rougher cousin’ to the standard sorbet. And while certainly coming across as a bit rougher in texture and mouth-feel, this cousin remains filled to the brim with the genuine and forceful flavour of the fresh fruits. With its limited amount of sugar and high proportion of fruit, the Fresh and fruity sorbet also scores high on a scale of (relative) healthiness.

That said, it is clear that this type of sorbets also comes with disadvantages: it lacks the smoother, finer ‘typical sorbet texture’ and has a coarser mouth-feel. Because of the limited amount of sugar, it is also bound to freeze quite firmly in the freezer. Best to enjoy this sorbet relatively shortly after preparation, in other words.

So – be healthy: grab some green apples, think about prolonged youthfulness and freeze some Fresh and fruity-style sorbet already today!

And by the way – in case you should feel that this sorbet deviates too much from what you yourself would consider to be “sorbet”, try combining a scope of it with any other, more ordinary ice cream. You will probably be very pleased with the result! 

Green Apple Sorbet, this time made with more sugar syrup. The added sugar brings the sorbet closer to “traditional sorbet” in terms of smoothness and consistency. Notice also the shift in colour that follows from adding more sugar syrup.

PS.  – FOR THOSE WHO STILL PREFER MORE  ‘TRADITIONAL SORBETS

If you like the idea of using raw apples but prefer the consistency of more “typical” sorbet: try adding about 100-200 ml additional sugar syrup (and additional lemon juice of yet another lemon half) to the sorbet base. The increased sugar will make the sorbet somewhat less healthy, but the overall texture and consistency of the sorbet will be markedly smoother.