The idea for this sorbet has literally been in the back of my mind for a year! I was so happy to be able to try it this week and bring it to you here. It’s everything I hoped it would be and more. The flavors are perfection and the texture divine.
If you’ve never had strawberries and balsamic vinegar together, you have no idea what you’re missing. Although it sounds super weird, vinegar with fruit and all, it’s a match made in heaven. I’ve been known to have a bowl of strawberries with balsamic for dessert many times despite my family all turning their nose up at it.
I love the sweet coolness of strawberries with the deep, tart flavor of the vinegar. It’s even more amazing when you’ve cooked the vinegar down to make a glaze, like I did for this recipe.
It takes a while for the vinegar to get to a glaze consistency. I put a bottle (12 oz) of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and set it on the simmer burner watching it very carefully towards the end. It will reduce to about 1/3 the amount. When the glaze is hot to room temperature it will be more runny than if it’s been refrigerated. I made mine ahead of time for this sorbet and kept it in the fridge until I was ready to use it. I allowed it to come to room temperature before using it.
This recipe is really quite simple, as are most sorbet recipes. It uses fresh and/or frozen strawberries (you can use all of either), sugar, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar in the sorbet. During assembly, I drizzled it with balsamic glaze which you can buy at most groceries nowadays. You don’t need to make it yourself if you don’t want to. Store-bought glaze will work just fine, I would just look to make sure it doesn’t have a bunch of unnecessary ingredients in it. The only ingredient in mine is balsamic vinegar. Typically, commercial glazes will have thickeners and preservatives.
The ratio of fruit to sugar is 4 to 1. It took me a while to figure that out. Strawberry puree frozen for two days without enough sugar will be a very large strawberry ice cube that you can’t do anything with except give it to your nieces to chop apart. Ask me how I know …
I used my Wolf high-speed blender for this but any high-speed blender or food processor will work. The idea is to make sure it’s pureed and no chunks remain. To assemble it to freeze, I poured 1/3 of the puree into the loaf pan and drizzled 1 Tbls. of glaze over the surface. I added the next 1/3 and repeated the drizzle and so forth. I froze mine for several days which forced me to allow it to warm up for about 30 minutes before I could scoop it but if it’s only frozen overnight it should be perfect the next day. I can hardly get enough of the balsamic glaze so I topped it with even more glaze to serve and garnished with basil, also a good friend of strawberries. 😉
- 8 cups strawberries (I used 4 cups fresh, 4 cups frozen)
- 2 cups cane sugar
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 6 Tbls. good quality balsamic vinegar
- 3 Tbls. balsamic glaze + more to serve, if desired
- In a high speed blender or large food processor, pour lemon juice, strawberries and sugar.
- Blend well until there are no chunks left and it's very smooth.
- Add balsamic vinegar and blend well.
- In an 8"x4"x4" loaf pan, pour ⅓ of the strawberry mixture.
- Drizzle with 1 Tbls. glaze. Repeat twice more with each ⅓ left over.
- Freeze for at least 12 hours. If frozen for more than 24 hours, you may need to allow it to warm for about 30 minutes before serving.
- Serve with a drizzle of balsamic glaze.
1 comment
This looks so refreshing! Perfect for crazy hot summer days!