Along with gelato, sorbetto is *the* classic Italian frozen dessert. And perhaps the most basic. Sorbetto di limone is essentially frozen lemonade: Simple syrup is made by simmering sugar and water together, to which lemon zest is added and allowed to infuse its flavor. When this flavored syrup cools completely, it is mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice and chilled in your ice cream maker until frozen but still quite soft.
Although, like gelato, you can enjoy sorbetto di limone as a snack—especially nice on a hot day—more often you’ll find it at the end of the meal, a cool and refreshing palate cleanser that’s equally welcome after a light fish dinner or a belly-busting mixed grill.
Serves 4-6
Start with the best quality lemons you can buy (preferably organic) and sugar:
Peel the lemons with a vegetable peeler or paring knife, leaving as much of the pith (the white layer beneath the lemon’s outer yellow skin, or zest) behind as you can manage. (The pith is quite bitter, although there’s no need to fuss about it too much; a bit of pith will give your sorbetto some character.)
Put the sugar, water and lemon zest in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Let it cook for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the resulting syrup cool completely.
Meanwhile, cut your lemons in half and juice them. (This quantity of lemons should produce roughly 350ml/12 fl oz of juice.) An electric juicer certainly comes in handy, even if it’s not strictly necessary, of course.
When the syrup has cooled, add the lemon juice to the saucepan, give it a stir, and strain the mixture through a sieve.
Add the mixture to an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s directions for a making a sorbet. As it begins to chill, it won’t look like much at first,
but over time you’ll see the lemon-syrup mixture begin to transform, thickening as it freezes,
until you arrive at the consistency you desire (see Notes):
Serve in cocktail glasses or champagne flutes, with sugar frosting and a thin slice of lemon if you like.
Tastes vary as to the best consistency for sorbetto di limone, but as a rule Italians serve it quite soft. In fact, I’ve had sorbetti di limone that were so soft they were positively drinkable straight from the glass. Personally, I prefer a sorbetto that is just firm enough to eat with a spoon. A soft sorbetto also means one that is not too cold, and that means you can really appreciate the taste of the lemon. If you like a fluffy and smooth consistency, you can fold in a stiffly beaten egg white or two into the lemon-syrup mixture, but I’m not very partial to the results. I prefer a denser consistency.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can simulate a sorbetto with a whisk and a freezer, although it’s a rather tedious process: you place the lemon-syrup mixture in a large metal bowl in the freezer, removing it every 1o minutes or so to whisk it smooth and repeating until the mixture is frozen to the desired soft-serve consistency.
If you’re not up for that much fuss, you can use the same mixture to make a granita di limone, a Sicilian frozen treat, which is rather less work. We’ve featured granita di caffè (coffee granita) before, and you should follow the same method: you freeze the mixture in a ice tray or loaf pan, stirring it with a spatula every 30-45 minutes or so. Stirring rather than whisking, and at longer intervals, will produce a grainier texture, something like shaved ice. In either case, total freezing time will be 60-90 minutes.
Of course, the better your lemons, the better your sorbetto will be. Since you are using the zest, I would go with pesticide-free organic lemons. In Italy, there are no better lemons than those from Sorrento, which are famously used for making the best limoncello. Here in the US, Meyer lemons—actually an import form China—with their mild tartness, are particularly appealing. This recipe actually works for any citrus fruit—limes, grapefruit, oranges all make wonderful sorbetti.
And if you want to save yourself some effort, you can make a fine sorbetto by substituting the lemon juice with an equivalent quantity of store-bought orange juice (better if freshly squeezed, of course, but even a commercial juice would work.) Another line of sorbetti is made with puréed fruit—for more details, see our post on sorbetto di mango.
Sorbetto di limone is just fine on its own, but there are endless ways to dress it up. Sorbetto goes fabulously with fresh berries, for example, and a garnish or mint or basil is never amiss. For the adults, a drizzle of vodka added to the lemon syrup mixture before freezing lends it a certain je ne sais quoi. And, although it sounds redundant, finishing off your sorbetto with a drizzle of limoncello, preferably homemade, is also very nice. For an elegant version of a float, place a fairly firmly made scoop of sorbetto di limone in the bottom of a flute and top it up your with your favorite prosecco or champagne. In Venice they make the sgroppino, a mixture of softened sorbetto, vodka and prosecco, whisked together until perfectly smooth.
Gene Roefaro
Author