I was at the Costco yesterday when the aroma of ripe white peach reached out its tendrils and lassoed me into submission. I controlled myself and only bought one flat of a dozen peaches.
Given that there are only three of us in the house; that there are only so many bowls of peaches and cream one can consume with out suffering the consequences, and that there are only so many days between perfect peaches becoming overripe yucky peaches, I decided that white peach sorbet would be a good stab at preserving the essence of ripe white peach for another day. I’m going to try a tiny scoop in a glass of proseco when I next have an excuse to open a bottle, but we’ve enjoyed it as is – just a scoop of cold white peach loveliness.
The following recipe is adapted slightly from an online Martha Stewart recipe. I didn’t think I wanted to post this initially so I don’t have any photos of how things looked along the way from peach to sorbet. I tried to do away with the fiddly measurements and clarify the fuzzy measurements – so it’s a little easier on the measuring end of things and still lovely on the eating end of things.
1 cup (220 g) sugar (I use organic)
1 cup (250 ml) water
4 large white peaches (approximately 2 lbs/906 g), pitted and peeled (it’s OK if there are some little bits of peel left – they basically disappear in the blender)
1/2 cup (125 ml) lemon juice
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon (15 ml) rum (white or golden)
1) Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small sauce pan, giving it a stir now and then until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool (you can use an ice bath to speed the cooling process).
2) Combine 1 1/2 cups of the simple syrup, peaches, lemon juice and salt in a blender and process until completely smooth. Place in the refrigerator and chill until very cold, about 4 hours – if you are a temperature taking sort, well below 40°F (about 4° C). (For the impatient folks like me: I put the peach mixture in a metal bowl then put that bowl over an ice bath and placed the whole shebang into the fridge for an hour or two.) Chill any remaining simple syrup for further use, it will keep for weeks.
3) Process the mixture in an ice cream maker until soft frozen. Add the rum when the mixture is slushy and almost done. Transfer to a container and freeze until ready to use. Yields about 1 1/2 quarts.