I am lucky enough that both my parents and in-laws grow quite a lot of their own fruit and vegetables so in exchange for the odd pot of jam or bag of apples and pears from our own garden we often receive a carrier bag full of whatever has been newly harvested. Most recently it has been potatoes, pears, runner beans and damsons; the latter I deliberated for a while as to what I wanted to do with them, it was going to be either jam, gin or sorbet. In the end seeing as I had just made a big batch of blackberry jam I opted to combine the other two options and make damson and gin sorbet.
Damsons are a small plum-like fruit with an intense, astringent flavour that lends itself very well to cooking. This sorbet has one of the most gloriously deep red/purple colours I have ever seen, and the flavour is rich and sharp; the gin means that it stays fairly soft-serve in the freezer and it adds a boozy tang (this one is definitely just for grown-ups). The tartness of the sorbet means that it works incredibly well with sweet, creamy desserts such as meringue, whipped cream or cheesecake, I made a sort of Eton mess with the sorbet, some softly whipped cream, crushed meringue and raspberries, it was heavenly.
Damson And Gin Sorbet
Ingredients
- 1 kg damsons
- 4 tbsp water
- 250 g sugar
- 130 ml water
- 5 tbsp gin
Instructions
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Place the sugar and 130ml water in a pan, heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil and simmer for four minutes then remove from the heat and leave to cool.
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Damsons are near impossible to stone so to get rid of the stones, place the damsons and 4tbsp water in a separate pan and cook gently until the damsons have softened and broken down. Press the fruit through a sieve or chinois to get rid of the stones, take your time and really scrape it through to get as much fruit puree as possible.
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Mix together the damson puree, sugar syrup and gin, cover and refrigerate until completely cold then freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.
I am sharing this with Fabulous Foodie Fridays, Fiesta Friday, Foodie FriDIY, Foodie Friends Friday, Friday Favourites and Friday Features
I love gin (a bit too much some might say) and the lovely botanicals go so well with fruit in sorbets. This looks like the perfect dessert/cocktail combo. Just beautiful.
Ha ha! I feel you…I come from a family of gin drinkers so I’ve inherited the taste for it!
Absolutely beautiful. Love the presentation in the selection of tea cups. Your recipes and pictures are always presented with elegance. What brand of gin do you use?
I love the new gin called “Hendricks” aged in a wood barrel. I only drink gin and tonics with this new gin. Tangeray is the gin of the past.
Thanks Rita 🙂 I like Hendricks gin as well though to be honest I’m not all that fussy and will drink most gins happily!
I love to put a little booze in my sorbets, and this one looks so particularly good! I’ve yet to try plum, but I am going to have to try this one, now!!
Booze is great in sorbets, I have a particularly ferocious freezer so it helps keep them scoopable!
I’ve never heard of damsons before, but this looks absolutely beautiful and so delicious! I love that you added gin for a bit of a boozy kick. Perfection!
xx Hannah // http://www.HomemadeBanana.com
Thanks Hannah, they are not very common unfortunately and can be tricky to get hold of, it’s well worth seeking them out though as they make fantastic jam and have a lovely rich flavour and they go great with gin! (just don’t eat one uncooked and unsweetened, they are very sharp!)
Simply beautiful!
Thanks Hilda 🙂
Wow – this looks delicious and I am interested in tracking down a damson now.
Thank you! Unfortunately they can be hard to find…you could use plums instead if you reduce the sugar
Stunning, have pinned this and your other recipe! x
What a pretty sorbet – I know we have plums in my area, not so sure about damsons 🙂
It would probably work well with plums instead though you may need to reduce the sugar to taste, damsons are very tart!
I saw this at work when you first posted it, Hannah, and I couldn’t stop staring at the photo with sorbet spilling out of the cup. The colour is absolutely stunning and I love the concept. I’ve been wanting to make gin and tonic ice cream for a while but now will have to wait till the summer.
Thanks Julia 🙂 I really want to try gin and tonic ice cream as well! x
What an absolutely lovely color, great pictures with the sorbet running down the side of the cup. I would love to make this but cannot tolerate gin…memories of college parties are still too strong after many decades.
It’s such a beautiful colour 🙂 My college hangover is vodka…I can’t drink it if I can taste it…
The colour of that sorbet is incredible Hannah! I have only made Damson jelly, but this is such a lovely idea! x
It’s gorgeous isn’t it! Like wine 🙂 I thought about making damson jelly but I’ve already got quite a stock of jams! x
Now this is the perfect dessert! Thanks so much for linking up with us, I hope you have a great weekend 🙂
Thanks Lauren!
I saw this on instagram and had to come back and have a look – looks fantastic
Thanks Louise 🙂
O this is stunning! The color!
Thank you! The colour was so intense it really surprised me
Oh. My. God. That looks absolutely fantastic!
Thank you 🙂 The colour is amazing, and it tastes really good, very different to any other sorbet I’ve tried
This looks so good. Love the idea of putting sorbet in teacups – so pretty!
Thank you!
What an amazing colour this is. I love it!