crimson grape sorbet
This red or crimson grape sorbet is so perfect, I can’t decide if I prefer it to my granadilla sorbet or not. Either way, it is one of the things that helped me get through a fiercely hot Cape Town heatwave this past weekend.
Temperatures reached 38 C (100 F) yesterday afternoon, and Saturday was almost as hot. We are talking about 48 hours of solid heat here. Like a wall. My house is old and has low ceilings, so it turns into an oven on days like this. Even the chocolate in my cookie jar became malleable. I had to do a few things to escape, like, lots of driving around in my car with the AC on full blast, a lengthy mall visit, and a long movie session in a chilly cinema. Swims on a Southern Peninsula beach, and sleeping under a dampened sheet with the fan on. I watched a lot of the Winter Olympics. Just seeing all that snow sort of made me feel a little cooler.
I also ate all this delicious sorbet.
I first spotted this recipe with drop-dead-gorgeous pics on Pinterest, and a click-through took me to the delicious Dessert for Breakfast blog. I mean. Stephanie made her version with Concord grapes, which look and sound incredible but having never encountered these in South Africa, I used what I think are the most grapey grapes, red Crimson’s.
I think these are my favourite eating grapes. They are not too sweet, have the perfect skin (ie not too tough), are super juicy, and are seedless. I had a kilogram of these beauties left over from the recent fruit TVC shoot I did, the one with all the pineapples, so knew I wanted to make a sorbet.
The recipe is from David Lebovitz which I slightly modified. Apart from using Crimson grapes instead of his wine-grape variety, I added 100ml of Pinotage instead of his 6 tablespoons of rose. I thought that the Pinotage, which is a very voluptuous, berry-intense wine would compliment the sweetness perfectly, and it did. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say it made the recipe for me. It added such huge depth without making it taste of wine. It all just worked so perfectly.
My 1 kg of Crimson grapes yielded 2 3/4 cups of juice to which I added 100ml of red wine. I used the same quantity of sugar and liquid glucose that David did and found this to be perfect. Not too sweet, but sweet enough. The alcohol and glucose gave the sorbet a gorgeous sherbet texture.
Recipe – adapted from David Lebovitz
Ingredients
- 1 kg red Crimson grapes or other red variety - stalks removed
- 1/4 cup 60ml water
- 3 tablespoons 45g sugar
- 2 tablespoons 30ml light corn syrup or glucose
- 100 ml red wine
Instructions
- Put the grapes and water into a medium pot and bring to the boil with the lid on. Cook these until soft (about 10 minutes). Allow to cool slightly.
- Strain the juice from the fruit by pressing it through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl (You should get a yield of around 2 /1/2 - 3 cups).
- Stir in the sugar, glucose and wine - ensuring it has all dissolved. Chill for a couple of hours or overnight.
- Process the liquid through your ice cream machine until ready. Remove and freeze.
If you are living in the Northern Hemisphere and can’t relate to anything frozen right now, this one is worth remembering when Summer rolls around.
I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.
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This sounds absolutely awesome, I am so making it! Wine bore alert: Concord is a grape indigenous to America (vitis labrusca) and not of the same species (vitis vinifera) that all the wines we know like Cab, Merlot, Chardonnay etc. come from. It’s not an ideal wine grape as wines have a ‘foxy’ (and I don’t mean sexy) character. It’s used mainly for things like jelly and juice in the States (though during Prohibition Americans went crazy making their own tipple using the Concord grape). So, sadly, we are extremely unlikely to ever see it on our shores.
oh Sam, its hot here, too – my kitchen is like an oven! 🙂 Want your delicious sorbet – now! One question, I have no ice cream machine – will it still work? and how? Thanks. Your photographs, btw. are such an inspiration.
Hi Carina – thank you and isn’t the heat too ghastly? You will need to follow the various methods out there to make ice-cream and sorbet by hand. A quick google will yield results. Look at Davids site for methods on how to make by hand. I personally would never got to that effort and love my ice cream machine. Makes it all so very easy
Thanks for the great info Lizet. I reckon other wine-grape varieties could work with this. I might just alter the amount of actual wine I add as the sugar levels could be affected. Eating grapes are generally sweeter than wine grapes. Or add more sugar.
What a gorgeous color! It is hot here in Arizona as well 84 degrees. Love the cute little pan the sorbet is in.
That sorbet looks delicious.. .what ice cream maker do you use / would you recommend? Always wanted to get one…
Hi Liesl – I bought mine around 10 years ago so don’t think the model exists any more. I had the fan repaired 2 years ago and my research uncovered this, and that the machine was a particularly good one. Its semi industrial, not domestic and is a Simac. Italian brand. Its quite big.Im afraid I have no knowledge of good domestic machines.
Hi Cheri – wow – 84 degrees and its Winter!!! would hate to know what temps you get to in Summer. You probably think Im a total wimp. 🙂
This is the second time I have been unsuccessful in Pinning a recipe on Pinterest through your emails. I’m wondering if the connection isn’t quite correct. I don’t have issues with other bloggers. Just thought you should know.
I’m mesmerized by these photos. I made a concord grape sorbet last year and the color was similar, but more blue. I love the flavor of grapes and this looks fantastic. I’m technically in the northern hemisphere, but the weather here in Los Angeles has been in the 80s and 90s — just right for sorbet 🙂
A perfect dish for 38°C. We are getting close to 30°C and that is bad enough.
Your photos are absolutely stunning! Can’t wait to give this recipe a try!
Just gorgeous, your photos are stunning!
Thanks Kailley 🙂
I dream of 30 C 🙂 – luckily things are cooling down for a few days then its hot again on the week end.
Hi Sue, gosh, I can’t believe its that warm in LA. Enjoy the sorbet and the Concord grapes.
Hi Cindy, Im not sure I understand why you are pinning from my emails? I pin my images directly from my site via the Pinterest button I installed on my computer. I use it to pin anywhere on the web. If you follow my board on Pinterest, you will always see my pins. Thanks for letting me know.
What a vibrant sorbet! It’s been the opposite of hot here, but I could have used a scoop or two of this sorbet this summer when it reached 110 degrees F! (on our wedding day…outside)
It finally feels like Spring here!! And this sorbet is perfect to devour 🙂
Hi Sam – do you serve this as a palate cleanser between courses or as a desert?
HI Linda it can be used as both but its a delicious sorbet to eat as a dessert