Passion Fruit Sorbet
This Passion Fruit Sorbet is a dairy-free treat that’s perfectly refreshing for warm summer days!
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Flashback to almost a year ago. Laura and I were on vacation, and we had found ourselves wandering the side streets of Strasbourg, France. Now Strasbourg is known for Pain d’Epices, and there are literally dozens of bakeries and stories scattered around town selling fresh loaves of this spiced bread. (Pain d’Epices is loosely translated into gingerbread, but it’s nothing like American gingerbread. It’s more of a spiced bread, but it’s still quite tasty. Check out my previous post on Strasbourg for a delicious Pain d’Epices recipe!)
In our wandering, we passed an ice cream vendor on the street. It was a warm day, and ice cream sounded like a great idea. That’s when Laura caught sight of the passion fruit sorbet in the back corner of the case. I think her head did a full 360° spin. Laura has been a fan of passion fruit flavored anything for years, and the thought of passion fruit in sorbet form stopped her dead in her tracks. Needless to say, we both ordered Passion Fruit Sorbet and went about our merry way.
For some reason, passion fruit is not a terribly common flavor here in the States. Laura eats passion fruit yogurt every morning, and we’ve managed to find passion fruit juice for making our Classic New Orleans Hurricanes…but that’s about it. Passion fruit sorbet? Good luck! But then I was cutting through the frozen section of the store the other day, and I happened to see a pack of frozen passion fruit pulp. It wasn’t in the same spot as the other frozen fruit, so I had never noticed it before. (It was actually in the Hispanic foods section of the frozen aisle. Go figure.) Needless to say, my mind starting spinning as I realized I could make Passion Fruit Sorbet at home now!
Sorbet is similar to ice cream in that it’s a frozen dessert, but the key difference is that sorbet doesn’t involve dairy. No cream. No egg yolks. Just water, sugar and fruit pulp. Well I had the water and sugar part covered, and the only missing piece was the passion fruit pulp. Problem solved! That pack of frozen passion fruit pulp landed in my cart, and off I went. (Actually, two packs landed in my cart…just in case the store stopped carrying it!) This Passion Fruit Sorbet is really quite easy to make, too. It starts with a simple syrup, and then you just stir in the pulp. Let the mixture cool in the fridge before pouring it into an ice cream maker. ~25 minutes later, you’ll have a batch of delicious Passion Fruit Sorbet.
As sorbets don’t include any cream, they will turn very hard in the freezer. Just pull it out about 10 minutes before serving, and you’ll be good to go. Or you can cheat time and just microwave the sorbet for a couple seconds at a time until it’s scoopable. So grab a scoop (or two!) of Passion Fruit Sorbet, toss some fresh berries on top and sit back and enjoy the arrival of warmer days! Cheers, friends!
Passion Fruit Sorbet
Ingredients
- 3½ cups water
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cups passion fruit pulp see note
Instructions
- Using a medium saucepan, combine the water, sugar and lemon juice. Place over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 5-7 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Stir the passion fruit pulp into the sugar syrup until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
- Pour mixture into ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. Transfer mixture into freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 2 hours.
- To serve, scoop sorbet into bowls and garnish with fresh berries.
Notes
I love this! Lynne will love this too! It might even persuade her to allow me to get the ice cream maker attachment part for my Kitchen Aid! And if it doesn’t then she’s just going to have to pay for a trip to Strasbourg to grab some of what you and Laura had there! Have a great weekend David! 🙂
Haha! I think Passion Fruit Sorbet is a totally acceptable reason to get the ice cream maker attachment. 🙂 (Although, to be fair, ice cream makers really aren’t very expensive at all…not sure how much the attachment is.) I nearly dropped my groceries when I realized they sell passion fruit pulp (with no added sugar!) in the freezer section of our grocery store. I hope they sell it over there in Scotland, too! Thanks, Neil!
That color is a show stopper! I love sorbets and I’ll bet this one is amazing! Perfect for a light summer dessert!
I agree with you about the color of this sorbet, Kathy! It just screams summer to me. 🙂 And I was surprised at how easy it was to make sorbet at home. Now it’s time to play around with more sorbet flavors! I hope you had a great weekend, my friend!
Oh that colour! So beautiful! I’m sure I would have to stare at it for a few minutes before diving face first into it, lol. Perfect summer treat for sure 🙂 And 4 ingredients? Woooo hoooo!
Haha! I totally know what you mean about the color, Dawn. Passion fruit really has such an appealing (and unique) color…and that’s before you even dig in! Honestly, you could get away with just 3 ingredients here, but I thought the bit of lemon juice was a nice way to balance the sweetness from the passion fruit itself. Hope you had a great weekend, my friend!
Laura and I would be good friends. I loooove passion fruit! The color of this sorbet is so pretty and summery, I’m going to scour the frozen foods section for passion fruit pulp. And complain bitterly if I can’t find it :). Have a great day, David!
Yes! I have a funny feeling that you and Laura would be good friends, too, Kelsie. You should stop by sometime so I have an excuse to make another batch of this passion fruit sorbet, ok? 🙂 I was surprised (did a 180° u-turn with the cart) when I saw frozen passion fruit pulp in our store. And I also spied several other fruit pumps with no added sugar. How good does a blackberry sorbet sound!? Hope you had a great weekend!
I love sorbet and how it’s only made with a couple ingredients! I make mango sorbet at home, but have never tried passion fruit. It sounds so refreshing!
Yes! I was surprised when I stumbled across passion fruit pulp in the frozen section of the store. Talk about an easy summer recipe! This sorbet was delicious…and I’m thinking about making another batch this coming weekend. 🙂 Thanks so much, Nicole!
A great idea. And that color is fantastic. Reminds me I need to break the ice cream maker out of its winter storage… !
Yes! Go get that ice cream maker out, Frank. It needs to be introduced to some summer sorbets. 🙂 Hope you had a great weekend, my friend!
woahhhh amazing! Love how few ingredients you need here too!
Tell me about it, Lucie! This passion fruit sorbet turned out quite well…and honestly, it could be made with just 3 ingredients, but I like adding a bit of lemon juice to balance the sweetness from the passion fruit. Thanks so much!
Beautiful and refreshing dessert, David! I’ve made sorbet with passion fruit only a few times (I’ve always combined it with other flavors like mango or orange though). Although I normally prefer sorbet made with fresh fruit and berries, fresh passion fruit is quite expensive (and you need a lot!), so frozen pulp is a great deal. I’ve never seen it in out stotes. So you did the right thing when grabbed two bags of it as you can ship me that unused one 🙂
Interesting! I like the idea of combining passion fruit with mango or orange. I might have to try that next time, Ben. And I agree with you about the frozen pulp. We can’t even get fresh passion fruit in our area, so that wasn’t an option…and the pulp was surprisingly inexpensive. But it was hiding in the Mexican foods section of our grocery store rather than in the regular frozen fruit section. Either way, I’m glad I stumbled across it! I’ll send you a pack or two! 🙂
So yummy <3
I totally agree! Thanks so much, Kinga!
Nice DD,
My daughter has a dairy allergy so this is perfect 🙂
Eric! How you doing buddy? Not sure if you can find frozen fruit pulp over in your area, but it makes for a really easy way to make sorbet. Perfect for summer. Hope you’re doing well…would love to catch up with you guys sometime!
Duuuude – y’all really need to move back down to the ATL cos guess what they are selling at the Dekalb and Buford Farmer’s Markets? Yup – passion fruit! As in FRESH passion fruit! It smells AMAZING!!! I grew up on that stuff when we lived in Sri Lanka so it’s one of my fav fruits! Though I gotta admit, I didn’t know they had it in the frozen section – I gotta check the next time – speaking of frozen though, this sounds wonderful, so refreshing, AND only 4 ingredients!
No way! Of course the Dekalb Farmer’s Market carries passion fruit. Is there anything they don’t sell there!? It’s been many years since I’ve seen fresh passion fruit. But I was still pretty surprised when I stumbled across that frozen passion fruit pulp. (It was in the Hispanic section of the frozen aisle so it wasn’t where you might expect.) And since it’s already in pulp form (with no added sugar!), it made this sorbet so easy to make. My plan is to try it with other fruit pulps next! Maybe you and Lil Shashi can come help me decide which fruit works best in sorbet form? 🙂
I don’t think I have ever seen passion fruit in the stores where I live. Sorbet is a great summertime treat. This one looks yummy.
We don’t have fresh passion fruit in our stores, either, Dawn…but I was surprised to find the frozen passion fruit pulp in the freezer aisle. And that’s all you really need to make sorbet! It’s a fun summertime treat!
Just made a passionfruit-mango batch with great results. I was able to get about 10 fresh passion fruit which made 1 cup of pulp. Pressing through strainer proved quite inefficient, so I ended up pulsing the pulp on low speed in vitamix then straining – worked much better for me. Then used 2 large mangos to make a second cup of pulp. Very pleased with turnout. Thanks for the recipe!
Hey Victor! Awesome…I’m so glad this recipe turned out well for you. I’m really happy that you shared the tips about how to use actual passion fruit pulp. I’ve still yet to see fresh passion fruit in my area, but I’ve always got an eye out. The addition of the mangos was a great idea! I’ll have to try the mango twist next time I make a batch. Have a great rest of the weekend!