Cantaloupe Sorbetto and Kiwi Sorbetto: Not-So-Guilty pleasures

While living in Korea, Husband definitely loved the Korean dramas while I tried to find ways to watch Oprah and US TV shows.  I always ended up watching the dramas because Husband liked them and time after time, although I hated myself for it, I would become very wrapped up in whatever story line, throwing things at the TV when the evil-mother-in-law character would do something horrible to the beautiful-loving-sweet-angelic protagonist.  And even though each drama would have many predictable elements like cancer, a break-up, a forbidden love and a series of misunderstandings between man and woman, it still made for good entertainment.  After intensely focusing on a series, I would tel Husband, "That's the last one I'm watching" because I would become too overwrought and too involved.  Korean dramas were very stressful and not good for me.

After moving back to the Bay Area, Korean dramas fell by the wayside as 3 children competing for my attention simply out-competed dramas which wanted my attention.  Husband too stopped watching them, although every so often he'd mention that maybe we should go rent a series, to which I adamantly always said no.  I liked my sleep, and having a series that we stayed up to late to watch just seemed like a bad idea.  Therefore, for 4 years, I have not watched a Korea drama.

Until the weekend I was with my parents in Southern California, I did not even remember that I used to watch the dramas.  But Father and Mother were getting very involved in one, and suddenly, every evening, after Children were in bed, I found myself in front of the TV, getting vaporized into the drama on the big TV.  The final night, before I left, I begged Father to get as many episodes as we could watch so that I could try and finish the story.  The final evening, as I sat watching and bawling my eyes out (in my defense, so did Mom) over the hopeless love between a girl and a boy, I remembered all the times I watched dramas and how much I enjoyed them.  It was and is now, very much a pleasurable experience, and I won't even call it a guilty pleasure.  It is a good pleasure, to watch something, to engage with the characters, and at the end of the series to have some sort of release from all the emotions.  (Some in Korea have been known to call a good series "therapy" as the emotions that are locked inside of you get gushed out through a good drama.)

With the arrival of my new ice cream maker, I've been trying to find ways to make things that are delicious in them, but that I am happy to feed my kids.  I've discovered that owning your own maker means that you can make healthier versions of sorbets (sorbetto), reducing sugar and increasing fruit.  Daughters love them and Son is now hooked to the cantaloupe version.  And the elation on their faces as they enjoy this pleasure, a pleasure that I don't feel guilty giving them, is worth the small effort to make it.

The basic method of sorbets is to make a syrup, blend it with some fruit, and then pour it into the ice cream maker and let it do the rest.  Simple, straightforward, but produces lots of yummy refreshing goodness.  My recipe is less sugar than other recipes ask for, and an increase in the fruit.  If you're using fresh, seasonal, ripe fruits, the natural sweetness of the fruit will be the star of the sorbet, and not refined sugar.  YAY!! A not-so-guilty pleasure!  The cantaloupe version is sweet and mild while the kiwi is tart and bright.  Making both means that you get a little bit of goodness from both sweet and tart.

**Cooking notes: Here's a quick tip to peeling your kiwi - use a spoon.

Cut kiwi in half and stick a thin spoon (I like this Korean spoon for this) in between the flesh and the skin and rotate the kiwi around until you go around the entire fruit.  (This works best with fruit that is starting to ripen.)

Honey, Lime, Cantaloupe Sorbet
Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
¼ cup honey
5 cups of cantaloupe, cut and chilled (Tuscan melons are sweet with extra flavor)
Juice of 2 limes

Method
In a heavy saucepan add sugar, water and honey. Over medium heat bring to a boil, dissolving the sugar and honey altogether. (Use a larger pan so as to avoid messy sugary overflow, which I experienced.) Remove from heat. Cool, and then refrigerate until syrup is cool.

With a blender or a hand blender, blend together cool syrup, cantaloupe and lime juice. Pour contents into ice cream maker and turn on for 25 to 30 minutes, until mixture is stiff and bunching into the blades.

Remove all sorbet from ice cream maker and store it in another container. Freeze for an additional 2 hours. Serve.

Kiwi Sorbet
Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
¼ cup honey
5 cups of peeled and cut kiwi
Juice of 1 lime

Method
In a heavy saucepan add sugar, water and honey. Over medium heat bring to a boil, dissolving the sugar and honey altogether. (Use a larger pan so as to avoid messy sugary overflow, which I experienced.) Remove from heat. Cool, and then refrigerate until syrup is cool.

With a blender or a hand blender, blend together cool syrup, kiwi and lime juice. Pour contents into ice cream maker and turn on for 25 to 30 minutes, until mixture is stiff and bunching into the blades.

Remove all sorbet from ice cream maker and store it in another container. Freeze for an additional 2 hours. Serve.

Printable recipe

the ice cream that I'm using.













Williams Sonoma has a great deal on the same ice cream maker with TWO bowls.  (so you can make two kinds of sorbets as once.)  They also have a very cool looking stainless steel cuisinart with great reviews on special.  Link here.