Plum Sorbet

We've lovely Italian neighbours on both sides of our house; one of them is an ardent a fruit and veggie grower as me. Every year we get gifts of excess fruit, plus I'm commanded to pick everything that hangs over the fence (figs, grapes, persimmons, perennial chilies...). We're currently working our way through a big bag of stone fruit; some white nectarines with greenish yellow skins the likes of which I've never seen before, and some greenish yellow plums (long with points at either end) again a novelty to me. The nectarines are lovely, I been eating them my favourite way, chopped up with yoghurt and honey for breakfast. The plums.... well I'm not really a plum eater. Looking guiltily at the neglected bowlful I decided to trying stewing them and turning them into a sorbet. So if they were a bit bland I could zip things up with some more sugar and lemon juice.

Well if I'd known how good was going to end up I'd have taken some before shots, it was just sublime. The sorbet was rich and plumy in a totally unfamiliar way. Hannah's Dad pointed out that if one hadn't know what the fruit was, it would be assumed to be tropical and exotic.

I'm not sure how repeatable this is, but I'm now inclined to try out other plum varieties (the organic stalls at Vic Market always have a large selection of varieties at this time of year). So what I did is as follows:


10 or so plums (enough to make 2 cups of stewed fruit)
Sugar to taste, probably around 1/2 cup

Stew plums, if you cook them really slowly to start with you can avoid adding water, otherwise add about a tablespoon just so they don't catch as they commence cooking.

Cook on a gentle heat until very soft. Cool and puree. Check they are sweet enough, add a little castor sugar if you think they need it.

Pour into ice-cream machine and process until the right consistency.