I came across this recipe for basil or mint sorbet by Sara Kate over at Apartment Therapy: the kitchen, and of course had to give it a try. I followed Sara Kate’s recipe almost exactly, except that I used apple lambic instead of apple juice, and added it when I added the basil, because I thought the texture of the sorbet would be improved if I made sure not to cook the alcohol away.

I really disliked the sorbet when I first tasted it. It was too uncompromisingly tart for me, actually. The green apples seemed to intensify the basil flavor rather than mellowing it, to the point where I really wasn’t up to taking a second bite. I can’t blame that on the original recipe, though - it was dramatically representative of the fruit and herbs involved, which I would say made it a complete success. I just couldn’t handle it.

Then I remembered the lemon olive oil we recently picked up at O & Co.

We were there to taste olive oils on Dave’s birthday, and the lady handed me a tiny spoon of this lemon oil with just a dot of their balsamic vinegar in the center of it. It blew me away. I haven’t been paid or offered anything to make a product placement, and I intend to try to find a less expensive lemon olive oil in the future, but this stuff was still worth every cent we paid for it. The first thing we did when we got home was drizzle a bit of it on some chocolate sorbet, and oh, my, that was gorgeous. Pure, perfect lemon flavor, but smooth as can be, without any of the acidity.

So, I poured a tiny drop of lemon olive oil onto a spoonful of basil sorbet, and dared to taste it again. It wasn’t just better. It was good. Really, really good.

No recipe this time. Just links to follow, and my sheer glee at the usefulness of this latest addition to our pantry.

(This is also my entry for Sugar High Friday #21: Ice Ice Baby. And though I posted about them before the SHF theme was announced, I also want to enter my sour cherry almond milk sorbet and chocolate cassis sorbet. Consider this post a gateway sorbet to the rest, perhaps.)

Sugar High Friday, SHF

Posted by Danielle in Sweets, Food Blog Events, Kitchen Staples, Citrus, Ice Creams and Sorbets on July 19th, 2006 | | Permalink