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Home » Ice Cream

Blackcurrant Sorbet

July 13, 2020 by Jane Saunders 10 Comments

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BLACKCURRANT SORBET - pinterest image2
BLACKCURRANT SORBET - pinterest image2
BLACKCURRANT SORBET - image for pinterest
BLACKCURRANT SORBET - pinterest image2

Something of a classic during British summertime, a good blackcurrant sorbet is fresh, sharp and bursting with flavour. My version is soft, yielding and scoopable straight from the freezer. Pure frozen refreshment.

A tin of blackcurrant sorbet with two scoop resting on the top

Blackcurrant sorbet. Bright and colourful, soft and voluptuous, tart and refreshing, with a creamy indulgent edge to balance that zesty fruit flavour. It’s what hot summer days call for.

Contrary to how I take my ice cream (rock hard), I love a soft and yielding sorbet. One that is scoopable straight from the freezer and doesn’t remotely resist a spoon falling into it.

That is exactly how my blackcurrant sorbet is. If this sounds like your idea of cool refreshment, this recipe will be right up your street.

(If you are after something creamier, perhaps try my Blackcurrant Ice Cream instead).

A scoop of blackcurrant sorbet in a small glass

What you will need

One thing I love about making a sorbet is the simplicity of the ingredients list. Less is most definitely more when it comes to achieving a clean, smooth and fresh tasting sorbet.

This blackcurrant sorbet uses just 4 ingredients:

Blackcurrants – the total star of the show. Richly flavoured, tart, tangy and altogether synonymous with British summertime. Fresh or frozen is absolutely fine

Sugar – essential to temper the sourness of the fruit and largely responsible for the soft and creamy structure of the sorbet. White granulated or caster sugar both work well

Water – not all fruit sorbets require added water, but in this instance, water serves to dilute the very potent blackcurrants

Egg White – optional, but highly recommended. Egg white helps to lighten the mixture and stabilise the sorbet. In essence, the egg white retains a lot of the air that is incorporated into the sorbet during the churning process, helping to keep it soft & scoopable rather than freezing into a solid block.

The first time I attempted this recipe the sorbet I created was tasty, but the flavour was intense. A single scoop was all that diners could manage.

The recipe presented today still has a juicy blackcurrant flavour, but the intensity of those currants has been tempered, partly by reducing the quantity used and also by including slightly more water than I initially did.

One scoop is not nearly enough of this version.

Blackcurrant sorbet melting on an old fashioned ice cream baller

Instructions

It’s not difficult to make this sorbet . It’s as easy as cooking the fruit with water and sugar, straining the cooked fruit and then churning. The hardest part is waiting for it to firm up in the freezer. Here are the full instructions:

  • Put the blackcurrants, sugar and water into a medium-sized heavy-based pan and heat moderately to dissolve the sugar
  • Turn up the heat, bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes, until the fruit is soft and can easily be crushed with the back of a wooden spoon
  • frozen fruit in a saucepan
  • frozen fruit and sugar in a saucepan
  • frozen fruit, sugar and water in a saucepan
  • Cooked blackcurrants in a saucepan
  • Allow to cool then pass through a fine-meshed metal sieve suspended over a large bowl to extract the liquid and soft flesh but leave behind the skin & pips
  • Use a metal spoon to crush and push the fruit through the sieve. Keep on turning and pushing until a thick residue of pulp remains in the sieve but very little liquid
  • Straining cooked blackcurrants through a sieve to remove pulp
  • Straining cooked blackcurrants through a sieve to remove pulp
  • Straining cooked blackcurrants through a sieve to remove pulp
  • When finished, wipe the back of the sieve with the spoon, to dislodge the final bits of puree and give the contents of the bowl a good stir. It will look like a thick syrup (or a very thin puree)
  • Discard the pulp
  • Straining Pulp after cooked blackcurrants have been strained through a sieve
  • Blackcurrant syrup after being strained
  • Blackcurrant syrup in a bowl
  • Once completely cool, cover the syrup and chill for 3-4 hours in the fridge
  • When ready, churn in an ice cream maker, following the machine instructions (or read on for instructions on how to churn sorbet without a machine)
  • When the sorbet is beginning to hold it’s shaping whisk the egg white until nicely frothy and pour into the mix. Continue to churn until firm
  • Decant into a freezer-proof container, cover with parchment and freeze for several hours
  • Pouring sorbet mix into an ice cream churner
  • Frothy whisked egg whites
  • pouring egg white into an ice cream churner that is running
  • Sorbet churning in an ice cream machine
  • Blackcurrant sorbet in a metal tin
  • Fruit sorbet in a metal tin with parchment paper on top

Churning Sorbet without a Machine

There are 2 ways to make sorbet without a dedicated churning machine.

Method 1:

  • Pour the syrup into a lined swiss roll tin or similar (check it fits into your freezer) and freeze until firm
  • Break up the sorbet and blitz in a blender until smooth
  • Return to the freezer until solid again then blitz in the blender one more time
  • Mix in the whisked egg white, pour into a suitable container, cover with parchment and return to the freezer for 3-4 hours to firm up

Method 2:

  • Pour the syrup into a freezerproof bowl and place directly into your freezer
  • After 1 hour, take it out of the freezer and use handheld beaters to mix the sorbet until smooth. This helps break down ice crystals
  • Return to the freezer for a further hour then repeat the above process
  • Keep on repeating every hour until the sorbet begins to firm up (around the fourth or fifth beating), then mix in the whisked egg white and continue to repeat the process
  • Repeat the freeze and beat process at hourly intervals for 1 or 2 more times or until the sorbet reaches a good, scoopable consistency

Although method 1 is less time-consuming, method 2 will yield far superior results. I would always opt for method 2 over method 1, since sorbet should always be smooth and silky in my view. It’s worth the extra effort.

A vintage glass filled with blackcurrant sorbet.

How to Store

Cover the top loosely with parchment to avoid freezer burn and always store this blackcurrant sorbet in the coldest part of your freezer.

The coldest part of an upright freezer is usually at the top towards the back, away from the door. In a chest freezer aim for on the compressor step or on the bottom or floor of the freezer.

This sorbet is soft scoop so does not need to soften outside of the freezer before serving.

Blackcurrant sorbet in a metal tin. Two scooped balls rest on top.

How long does it keep for?

Since it is made with fresh ingredients and no preservatives, this blackcurrant sorbet does have a shorter shelf life than store-bought alternatives.

Ideally, it is best eaten with 2 weeks. After this, the flavour may begin to deteriorate.

A scoop of blackcurrant sorbet in a small glass

Can I leave out the egg white?

You can by all means leave out the egg white. Doing so will make this a vegan blackcurrant sorbet.

The egg white is there to keep the sorbet soft and scoopable straight from the freezer, so expect the vegan version to be slightly firmer.

Of course, adding a tablespoon of gin in place of the egg white is another option, since alcohol helps keep sorbets soft too, by lowering the freezing point of the syrup base.

Just resist the urge to add more, since too much alcohol can prevent a sorbet from setting at all.

Blackcurrant sorbet in a vintage glass with 2 wafer curls

My Sorbet didn’t set, what can I do?

Just occasionally I run into problems making a fruity sorbet even when I have followed the recipe measures exactly.

Why? Fruit contains natural sugar and this can vary. There is also no way for me to know the sugar content of each batch of fruit.

A sorbet will freeze too hard if there is not enough sugar present but it also will not free at all if there is too much sugar.

Luckily, there is a way to rescue sorbet that will not set – add more water to the liquid and try the churning process again.

More frozen treats to tempt you:

  • Mango & Cherry Popsicles – fun on a stick, with no added sugar
  • Spiced & Roasted Pineapple Ice Cream – creamy, tropical and downright delicious
  • Limoncello Lemon Sorbet with Mint – another great recipe for summer
  • Boozy Clove & Orange Ice Cream – great for the cooler months when an ice cream craving hits
Blackcurrant sorbet- featured image

Blackcurrant Sorbet

Jane Saunders
Something of a classic during British summertime, a good blackcurrant sorbet is fresh, sharp and bursting with flavour. My version is soft, yielding and scoopable straight from the freezer. Pure frozen refreshment.
5 from 5 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: British, English
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 6
Calories: 187kcal
Prevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  • 375 g Blackcurrants fresh or frozen
  • 300 ml Water
  • 225 g White sugar granulated or caster
  • 1 Egg white
Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Make the Sorbet Base

  • Put the blackcurrants, sugar and water into a medium-sized heavy-based pan and cook over a moderate heat to dissolve the sugar
  • Turn up the heat, bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes, until the fruit is soft and can easily be crushed with the back of a wooden spoon
  • Allow to cool then pass through a fine-meshed metal sieve suspended over a large bowl to extract the liquid and soft flesh but leave behind the skin & pips. Use a metal spoon to crush and push the fruit through the sieve. Keep on turning and pushing until a thick residue of pulp remains in the sieve but very little liquid
  • When finished, wipe the back of the sieve with the spoon, to dislodge the final bits of puree and give the contents of the bowl a good stir. It will look like a thick syrup (or a very thin puree)
  • Discard the pulp
  • Once completely cool, cover the syrup and chill for 3-4 hours in the fridge

Churning Using a Machine

  • When ready to churn, follow the instructions for your ice cream maker
  • When the sorbet is beginning to hold it’s shaping whisk the egg white until nicely frothy and pour into the mix then continue to churn until firm
  • Decant into a freezer-proof container, cover with parchment and freeze for several hours

Churning By Hand (see notes)

  • Pour the syrup into a freezerproof bowl and place directly into your freezer
  • After 1 hour, take it out of the freezer and use handheld beaters to mix the sorbet until smooth. This helps break down ice crystals
  • Return to the freezer for a further hour then repeat the above process
  • Keep on repeating every hour until the sorbet begins to firm up (around the fourth or fifth beating), then mix in the whisked egg white and return to the freezer
  • Repeat the freeze and beat process at hourly intervals 1 or 2 more times or until the sorbet reaches a good, scoopable consistency
  • Transfer to a suitable freezer container, cover with parchment and freeze until required

Notes

Alternative Method

There is another method of churning without a machine. It’s quite an easy, hands-off approach and not one I particularly like to use since the other methods listed here give superior results. However, for anybody short on time but desperate for sorbet:
  • Pour the syrup into a lined swiss roll tin or similar (check it fits into your freezer) and freeze until firm
  • Break up the sorbet and blitz in a blender until smooth
  • Return to the freezer until solid again then blitz in the blender one more time
  • Mix in the whisked egg white, pour into a suitable container, cover with parchment and return to the freezer for 3-4 hours to firm up

Vegan Blackcurrant Sorbet

You can by all means leave out the egg white to make this recipe vegan. The egg white is there to keep the sorbet soft and scoopable straight from the freezer, so expect the vegan version to be slightly firmer.
Adding one tablespoon of gin in place of the egg white is another option, since alcohol helps keep sorbets soft too, by lowering the freezing point of the syrup base. Just resist the urge to add more, since too much alcohol can prevent a sorbet from setting at all.
I would also advise against using both egg white and alcohol in this recipe, since it already soft set.

Nutrition Per Serving (Approximate)

Calories:187kcal | Carbohydrates:47g | Protein:1g | Fat:1g | Saturated Fat:1g | Sodium:12mg | Potassium:209mg | Sugar:37g | Vitamin A:144IU | Vitamin C:113mg | Calcium:34mg | Iron:1mg
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  1. Teresa

    July 25, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    Absolutely beautiful . Would this recipe will work with blackberries ?

    Reply
    • Jane Saunders

      July 26, 2021 at 10:11 am

      So pleased you like the recipe, Teresa! Blackcurrants are especially sour, more so than blackberries, so I’d expect to need less sugar for a blackberry sorbet. Guessing you could start with around 175g sugar for 375g berries and be on the right lines.

      Reply
  2. Kate

    July 18, 2021 at 12:25 pm

    5 stars
    This recipe was brilliant! Thanks so much, it worked perfectly and tasted divine. I usually make jam with our blackcurrants, but we had so many this year. A perfect treat.

    Reply
    • Jane Saunders

      July 18, 2021 at 12:56 pm

      Thanks for taking the time to feedback Kate – so pleased you enjoyed it. I’ve spent the morning making blackcurrant jam after picking a pile yesterday1

      Reply
  3. Taryn

    July 29, 2020 at 4:07 pm

    5 stars
    My whole family loved this sorbet! Will make again!

    Reply
    • Jane Saunders

      July 29, 2020 at 5:48 pm

      excellent – thanks for the feedback

      Reply
  4. Beth

    July 23, 2020 at 2:53 pm

    5 stars
    My kids love this recipe! It’s perfect for a summer treat and hot summer days! I can’t wait to make this again!

    Reply
    • Jane Saunders

      July 29, 2020 at 5:50 pm

      Sweet – happy days.

      Reply
  5. Ashley

    July 22, 2020 at 3:22 pm

    5 stars
    I love this sorbet. The flavor is so good and a gorgeous color too.

    Reply
    • Jane Saunders

      July 29, 2020 at 5:48 pm

      🙂 thanks

      Reply

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