Watermelon Sorbet

You ever buy a lame watermelon? You know the kind - it tastes more like cucumber than melon or maybe it's started to go soft and mushy. And, you wonder "what can I do with this?" If you have an ice cream maker, turn it into sorbet. The sugar, which is essential to create a good texture in a sorbet, helps immeasurably. Of course, if you bought a beautiful watermelon like the one in the photo, your sorbet will be even better!

You can use watermelon with seeds but it's a lot more work to remove all the seeds. Nowadays, seedless watermelons can be had easily, and this is the way to go. In my local supermarket, most of the mini-watermelons weigh in at 3 ½ pounds. I've scaled the recipe to use one mini-watermelon, which makes a bit less than 1 quart of sorbet.

Very refreshing!

Watermelon Sorbet
(makes not quite 1 quart)



1 seedless mini-watermelon, about 3 ½ pounds
6 Tablespoons light corn syrup
6 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 Tablespoons pomegranate soda

Remove all the rind from the watermelon and cut into chunks. If the watermelon has seeds, place a strainer over a bowl and squish up the chunks so you can pick out the seeds, then add back all the collected juice into the flesh. Put ½ of the watermelon in a blender with the corn syrup and puree. Pour into a clean bowl. Add the rest of the watermelon to the blender with the sugar and puree. Mix with the watermelon puree in the bowl, lime juice, and pomegranate soda. Place in the refrigerator until well-chilled.

Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.