Lemondrop Melon Limonana Sorbet

By Texaschef11

Ingredients

• 1 Ripe (not overripe) Lemondrop melon (or Honeydew cantaloupe), about 2 1/2 cups pureed
• 4 Lemons, about 3/4 juice
• 1/2 -3/4 Cup sugar
• 5 Large sprigs of fresh mint

Preparation

Step 1

1. Peel, seed and cube melon into large cubes. Puree in a food processor and set aside in a bowl with a lid.
2. Juice the lemons and strain. Make sure all seeds are out. Press pulp to extract all juice. Add into a small sauce pan.
3. Add 1/2 cup sugar to lemon juice and washed springs of fresh mint.
4. Turn heat to low/medium and let sugar dissolve in lemon juice while occasionally stirring with a rubber spatula. This process is fairly quick.
5. Add lemon syrup with fresh mint into pureed Lemonddrop melon. Cover with a lid and keep refrigerated overnight.
6. Next day take mint leaves out, squeeze any liquid out of it. It's too precious to waste, and discard the mint leaves.
7. Churn mint infused melon lemon mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions for approximately 20-30 minutes. Store in ice cream containers, Tupperware with a lid or in Popsicle plastic molds in the freezer until frozen.

Cook's notes:
1.A.Letting the mint leaves steep into lemon melon puree overnight makes sure we infuse the mint flavor without overwhelming the melon/lemon flavors. A fantastic balance is created. You taste each ingredient with every bite. The mixture also needs to chill well before being churned in the ice cream maker.
1.B. I did consider whizzing few mint leaves with the melon puree and decided against it.
1.C. I also considered dressing up the sorbet afterwards with crystallized mint leaves or a dust of the crystallized mint leaves, while it's pretty cool, again I decided against it.
1.D. Lastly I considered adding Limoncello (alcoholic lemon flavored liquor) to the sorbet. Regardless of the benefits of achieving less icy consistency by adding the alcohol, since alcohol doesn't freeze, I felt I wanted to keep it family friendly and also felt I achieved a perfect flavor balance, but it is a viable option if you want your sorbet boozy.

2.A. Speaking of consistency, brings to mind the sugar. While I like this recipe at 3/4 lemon juice to a 1/2 cup sugar I'd probably be ok at 3/4 cups as well.
2.B. Without getting too much into the science of things, I read an article in Hebrew that mentioned the Brix Refractometer, an expensive gadget that measures the density of sugar in juice/fruit base sorbet mixture. Ratio of simple syrup to fruit/juice is critical in achieving the right consistency. Honestly I don't own this expensive gadget, and even if I did, and the refractometer didn't read the ideal 16-18 for the perfect sorbet, I was not about to add more simple syrup than mentioned in 2.A. anyways.
2.C. Another way to measure if the ratio is correct and can be a cool experiment with the kids is: wash an egg and dry. Put egg gently inside the simple syrup/fruit/juice mixture. If the egg bobs above the mixture, the ratio is correct. If not, you need to slowly add more simple syrup until the egg bobs.The link to the article in Hebrew: http://tinyurl.com/3pxogrv.
2.D. Use only ripe fruit in their peak of flavor. Overripe leaning to spoil won't result in best quality. Different fruits have different levels of natural sugar content and therefore will need different ratio of fruit/juice:simple syrup. Apparently the fruit:simple syrup ratio as a rule should be 1:1. In sweeter fruit like pineapple ratio of fruit:simple syrup should be 1:0.6. Simple syrup recipe: 1 part water 1 part sugar. Also keep in mind when frozen, sorbet will taste less sweet than when in liquid form.
2.E. Why didn't I create simple syrup with water but instead used the lemon? There is no added water in this recipe other than the natural water in the melon and lemon.

3. Before serving: let container sit in room temperature for few minutes before scooping. Popsicles should easily slip out without letting them sit at room temperature. If necessary do it but not for too long. Also can run hot water over the Popsicle molds for few seconds before slipping them out only if necessary.

4. You can also get to step 6 in directions, do not discard mint leaves, add some fresh ones and serve with some ice cubes as a virgin maragrita instead of churning into sorbet or add some Limoncello and ice cubes for a boozy cocktail.
5. It's my lone pic as I wanted to re shoot the sorbet in a different setting but maybe I will when I make the next batch!