Lemon Sorbet

Three ingredients, two methods, zero dairy. This lemon sorbet is bright, clean, and genuinely easy to make at home using fresh Wonderful® Seedless Lemons.

• 1 tablespoon Wonderful Seedless Lemon zest
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup Wonderful Seedless Lemon juice
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup honey
• 3 Wonderful Seedless Lemons, cut in half and hollowed for serving  
• 6 Wonderful Seedless Lemon slices, cut into half-moons and twisted for garnish
• Fresh mint leaves, for garnish

• Cool the syrup completely before mixing. Warm syrup combined with fresh lemon juice accelerates oxidation and can dull the flavor. A fully cooled base makes a noticeably brighter sorbet.
• Trust the taste-test rule. The base should taste too sweet and too tart before going into the freezer. Both qualities mute substantially during freezing. If the base tastes balanced, the finished sorbet will taste flat.
• Zest is not optional. Lemon juice alone produces a clean but slightly thin flavor. The zest adds essential oils and aromatic compounds that give the sorbet depth and a rounded lemon character.
• Prevent ice crystals during storage. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly against the surface of the sorbet before sealing the container. This blocks the air that causes crystal formation on top.
• Serve in lemon shells for presentation. Cut the top off six lemons, scoop out the flesh (and strain the juice for the recipe), then fill the hollowed shells with finished sorbet. Freeze upright until firm.
• Make a softer, alcoholic version. Stir two tablespoons of vodka or limoncello into the base before churning or freezing. Alcohol lowers the freezing point and produces a sorbet that stays slightly softer and is easier to scoop straight from the freezer.
• Re-scooping from solid. If the sorbet freezes too firm to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before trying. Do not microwave. It melts unevenly and the texture does not recover properly.

• Limoncello Sorbet. Stir three tablespoons of limoncello into the cooled base before churning or freezing. The liqueur adds aromatic complexity and keeps the texture slightly softer.
• Lemon Basil Sorbet. Add ¼ cup of fresh basil leaves to the simple syrup while it simmers. Remove from heat, let steep for five minutes, then strain out the leaves before combining with lemon juice.
• Lemon Mint Sorbet. Same technique as the basil variation, substituting an equal amount of fresh mint leaves. Steep for three minutes to avoid bitterness.
• Lemon Raspberry Sorbet. Purée one cup of fresh raspberries and strain through a fine-mesh sieve to remove seeds. Add to the lemon base and reduce the lemon juice by ¼ cup to maintain the right total liquid ratio.
• Meyer Lemon Sorbet. When Meyer lemons are in season, use a 50/50 mix of Meyer lemon juice and juice from Wonderful Seedless Lemons. The Meyer lemons bring a slightly sweeter, more floral quality that pairs well with the brightness of the naturally seedless lemons.