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*Of course, you can add a pinch of cardamom or a few drops of almond extract if that floats your boat, but perfectly ripe peaches don’t really need much help — when it comes to summer ingredients, you’re almost always better off doing less. Just stay out of their way!
At first, when I brought home the flat of Gunkel Orchards peaches last week, I had lofty ambitions to make something like a grilled peach pavlova with a smoked sea salt meringue, but plans — much like the weather — are wont to change. I mean, I knew there was a heat wave in the forecast, but I don’t think I’m ever fully prepared for all the red sunlight and heavy air in this western hellscape we call “fire season.”
But then I tasted one of the peaches and realized I didn’t need to do a cotdang thing to them. With barely more effort, you can still have an elegant summer sorbet — just blitz with a little sugar and lemon juice and freeze. Peaches have a natural creaminess to them when pureed, but even peaches as sweet as these need the sugar and lemon juice to prevent the sorbet from freezing too hard — sugar (and alcohol and salt) all reduce the formation of ice crystals and stabilize the viscosity needed to give that wonderful silky mouthfeel. Makes about 1 ½ quarts
Note: To choose perfect peaches at the market, let your nose be your first guide. Select fragrant specimens that feel heavy for their size and yield to gentle pressure, though firmer fruits can be ripened in a paper bag at room temperature for a couple days (they never taste as good as a peach that was ripe before it was picked, but such is life). You can store ripe ones in the fridge to extend their shelf life for a couple weeks, but more importantly, to enjoy the sensory pleasure of eating a cold, juicy stone fruit on a hot day.
Ingredients
2 pounds peaches (about 6 or 7 large ones), pitted and quartered
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Optional add-ins: ¼ teaspoon almond or vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, and/or ¼ teaspoon cardamom
Instructions
- Pop the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer to chill for at least 24 hours.
- Blend the ingredients until smooth, then pour the puree through a sieve (or not, whatever you prefer). Chill the puree overnight.
- Run the peach puree through your ice cream maker until it’s thick and frosty, then transfer the sorbet to a freezer-proof container with a lid. Chill for another few hours before serving. If it’s hard to scoop, leave it on the counter for a few minutes to soften up a bit.