Best-Ever Blueberry Sorbet... with Vodka!

Blueberry Chef Medallions by Felix Doolittle

I still remember my first sorbet experience. It was in Paris many years ago, and that explosion of fruit flavor was a taste revelation. When we were recently invited to a friend’s farm a little over an hour away, we knew that (one of) the happy outcomes would be freshly made blueberry sorbet. The orchard of 50 blueberry bushes was laden with billions of blueberries. We were in blueberry nirvana. Here's what blueberry nirvana looks like:

We picked an enormous quantity of blueberries, and as we headed to the car with the buckets of blues, we were delighted by this wildflower field. The flowers seem like they’re floating or part of a Klimt painting.

Back to the sorbet. Great sorbet is a fruit epiphany. I just finished the last scoop of the quart, and I am in blueberry nirvana! Here's the recipe that gets you there:

Best-Ever Blueberry Sorbet

Our family LOVES this recipe! It contains 8 CUPS of blueberries. That’s 8 CUPS of blueberry-ness! I made Suzanne and Andy a batch as a thank you for inviting us to pick their blueberries, and these were her words she wrote me after trying it: "Amazing! Spectacular! Divine! Holy!!"

I found the original recipe on AboutFood.com. Here, I’ve added notes so that you get it right and awesome — the first time around.

About the alcohol: don’t think it’s the-more-the-merrier here because your sorbet won’t freeze. Adding alcohol to a sorbet reduces the freezing point and the size of the ice crystals which produces a finer and smoother tasting sorbet. You'll need an ice cream maker.

INGREDIENTS

8 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2/3 cup granulated sugar – Taste your berries before deciding how much sugar to add. If they’re sweet, reduce the sugar. We used less than 1/2 a cup.
1 tablespoon vodka

PREPARATION

Blend the blueberries, water, and lemon juice on high until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the berries and juice to a large saucepan, and stir in the sugar. Bring the berry mixture just to a boil and immediately remove it from the heat. Allow the berries to cool at room temperature for 5 minutes, and then press them through a fine-mesh sieve. Discard the berry solids, and add the vodka to the liquid.

Allow the mixture to cool in the refrigerator until very cold or overnight. This is a key to a successful sorbet: The “mix” must be very cold before it goes into the ice cream maker.

Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Ideally you've invited the people you love to join you in enjoying this because it's at it’s absolute best when it's done. Transfer what’s left to another container - don’t leave your sorbet in the ice cream unit when it’s done. See container ideas below. If your sorbet is hard when you remove it from the freezer, let it stand for several minutes at room temperature, and use a fork to scrape the sorbet like a granita, or scoop it once it has softened.

Makes 8 servings, but who’s to say!