Raspberry Sherbet

The backyard raspberries we planted a couple of years ago are taking off. The one 25 foot row has produced over 8 gallons so far this season. With very limited freezer space, finding uses for them has been fun and challenging. This desert was pretty easy to make and everyone in the family likes the taste, which is no small feat.

The recipe calls for 4 cups of raspberries. Note that you could also substitute or mix in blackberries for a different taste.

The ingredients are pretty simple. Along with the berries, you will need the following:

• Sugar - 1 Cup
• Cream - 2/3 cup (optional - can use equal amount of apple, white grape juice or even water)
• Buttermilk - 1 1/2 cups
• Vanilla - 1/2 teaspoon

Measure out the 2/3 cup cream and place in the blender. We mixed it for just a few seconds. You can whip it even more but be careful to not make butter!

Add the 1 cup sugar. We used organic sugar that we processed in a grinder to a superfine texture. You can also buy superfine sugar. Note that this is NOT powdered sugar.

Add in the 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.

Top off with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Some folks use lemon juice, but holy cow, the raspberries we grow are TART.

Run the blender for a few minutes to fully dissolve the sugar. If you do not completely mix the sugar in the buttermilk and cream, the sorbet will be gritty.

Add the berries, then mix by pulsing the blender. For a completely smooth sorbet, blend until smooth for a few minutes.

The sorbet mixture is now blended.

If you do not own a fancy Vitamix (we don't), then strain out the seeds, if desired. We left a few seeds in the sorbet after straining most of them out.

Place blended raspberry mixture into a smaller bowl that can be placed in the freezer.

After freezing the sorbet for several hours, break the sorbet into chunks. Put sorbet into the blender one last time and blend until smooth. Place back into the container to freeze again. This makes the sorbet easy to scoop out, much like ice cream.

Add toppings of whipped cream, fresh raspberries, mint sprigs or chocolate sprinkles. Serve immediately and enjoy!