Sorbet is a dessert that looks a lot like ice cream and gelato but is made from fruit. So how does sorbet differ from regular ice cream or gelato? Let's get to know this frozen treat a little better.
What Is Sorbet?
Sorbet is a frozen dessert made from fruit-flavored syrup or finely puréed fruit, sometimes even with alcohol added, then frozen into fine ice crystals. Sorbet has just two main ingredients, fruit and sugar, and contains none of the milk or fat found in ordinary ice cream or gelato. Put simply, sorbet is a frozen blended fruit juice.
The History of Sorbet
Historical evidence is unclear about exactly where people first used ice in cooking or to make desserts. The Persians are believed to be the first civilization to make sorbet, but there are many other legends about its origins. One tells of the Roman emperor Nero sending slaves to fetch ice from the Apennine mountains to mix with wine and honey, creating a kind of sorbet. Meanwhile, Chinese tales say that Chinese emperors were just as fond of desserts made with ice.
There is evidence from the Middle East too. In the Middle Ages there was a drink called sharbat, a cold, sweet beverage flavored with flowers and fruit. As different civilizations began to make contact and trade with one another across Europe, the Middle East and China, their knowledge started to come together. Many people credit Marco Polo's travels to China with introducing Italians to desserts made from ice.
The name originally came from the Italian sorbetto, referring to the sweet, cold drinks enjoyed by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. It later became 'sorbet', the French pronunciation, after Catherine de' Medici, the Italian noblewoman who went on to become Queen of France, brought desserts from her homeland with her to France.
From there, sorbet spread across Europe and grew steadily more popular. Later generations of cooks invented new recipes, giving rise to many more frozen desserts. One of them was ice cream, created by adding milk during the sorbet-making process; another development was the use of chocolate, newly arrived from the Americas, in sweets. The 17th century was a period of rapid progress for sorbet and frozen desserts.
Even so, these desserts were still out of reach for ordinary people, because they were hard to keep and expensive to make, so only the wealthy, nobility and royalty could enjoy them. That changed with the arrival of household cold-storage technology, the refrigerator, first built in the early 20th century, along with major advances in other food production and storage technologies. At last, frozen desserts became something everyone could enjoy.
Using Fruit to Make Sorbet
Sorbet is usually made with tart fruits, especially oranges, lemons and limes, strawberries and raspberries. Their sweet-sour taste is light and refreshing and cleanses the palate well after a main course. That does not mean sorbet must always be made with sour fruit, though. Today sorbet is made with all kinds of fruit, depending on what grows locally or is in season. In Thailand, for example, you will find sorbets made with mango, passion fruit, lychee, mayongchid (marian plum), dragon fruit and more, depending on personal taste.
