Pear sorbet

My very favorite sorbets are the kinds that taste just like the fruit itself, simple and yet intense in flavor, especially when eating them is like biting into a piece of fruit but in sorbet form. This sorbet accomplishes all of this. You take some ripe pears, puree them, mix in some cooled sugar syrup (basically some sugar dissolved in water), throw in a little bit of pear brandy or vodka, and freeze in the ice cream maker. Out comes something that tastes remarkably like a fresh, delicious pear!

A word of warning: This preparation is actually extremely simple and easy--and yet. I had to make this twice to get it right. The original recipe called for what seemed like a suprisingly large amount of sugar (one cup of sugar to 5 ripe pears), and I probably should have trusted my instincts. Ripe pears are already quite sweet on their own, but I figured some sugar was warranted, since after all it's pear sorbet, not simply ground up frozen pears, and also thought it might taste less sweet when it's frozen. The end result was an overly sweet sorbet. Not terrible, just pretty darn sweet. Also, this didn't occur to me until it was just a bit too late, but like apples, pears turn brown after you peel them. The first time I made the sorbet I made the mistake of letting the processed pears sit in the fridge while I tidied up the kitchen and before I started freezing the sorbet mixture.

Mistake!! It's a purely cosmetic failing, and didn't affect the taste, but I don't really want to eat brown sorbet. For my next attempt at the sorbet, I didn't want the sorbet so brown. Or so sweet. I halved the sugar and I decided not to introduce another ingredient - I didn't want to toss in some lemon juice to keep the pears from browning because while I love lemon, I didn't want it in the pear sorbet at all--not even a trace. So instead, I decided to simply work faster. I peeled and cut up and processed the pears as fast as I could go (which isn't really all that fast, but definitely faster than attempt number one), and got the whole mixture into the ice cream maker right away.

Much, much better. My second batch turned out just right in terms of sweetness, and while slightly browner than I prefer, it was so much more appealing. This definitely is a contender for my favorite sorbet flavor along with blood orange sorbet and lemon sorbet.