Watermelon and mint sorbet

Gosh, it’s been so long I haven’t posted anything! This is not due to a decrease in the ice-cream making activity, but rather to a lack of pictures, making posts less interesting. Fortunately, I now have a phone with a camera, and will try to post more often.

Anyway, August has been very hot in France, with temperatures exceeding 30°C at night (which, I’ve learnt, is the condition to call the phenomenon a heat wave). I was at my parent’s house these last few days, and one afternoon we were desperately trying to find a way to cool down. My mother had just bought a whole watermelon, and didn’t know what to do with (supermarkets…). Celine suggested a solution to the two problems…

We peeled (I’m not sure it’s the suitable verb, considering the very thick skin…) the watermelon, chopped it down to pieces and carefully removed all the black seeds (tedious but compulsory). Once blended, it represented an amount of approximately 1100mL.

While making the sugar syrup , we had the idea of infusing herbs in it, to complexify the rather bland taste of the watermelon, and add some originality to the treat. After hesitating between a few samples (basil, thyme…) we decided to go for fresh mint, that seemed to be the most refreshing herb (gosh we were so hot…). Thus we added a handful of leaves to the syrup, composed of 250g of sugar and the equivalent of water. Once the syrup cooled down, we sieved and simply poured everything into the canister.

The cranking went normally in spite of the temperature, and in less than 30 minutes we had our refreshing snack. It was pleasant, not to sweet, perfectly adapted to the situation. The mint was very mild but perceptible, and the watermelon was…as you could expect it. All in all, I don’t think it was an outstanding sorbet, but everyone enjoyed it.