Summer in Maryland has been beautifully mild. Being outside has been a joy this season, and I am hopeful that the lovely cool evenings and mornings continue into the Fall. Mother nature has been gentle on me and my garden this year, although I think the tomatoes may be slightly confused. They are ripening but definitely a little slower than usual. I will practice may patience if it means great weather!
Last weekend, my husband and I made our yearly trip to a local pick-your-own farm. Our pilgrimage was a little earlier in the summer last year and we picked mostly berries, but the delay in our trip this year happily resulted in being able to pick an abundance of blackberries, blueberries, peaches, and plums. I had never picked plums before and it was exciting to climb underneath the trees to find the best plums. There were several variety available for picking, including small yellow plums. Similar in taste to their red siblings, these yellows plums were sweet and ready to eat. We picked several pounds and when I got home my first thought was to make them into sorbet. I had previously made a plum sorbet with red plums and I was hoping the yellow plum version would be just as wonderful.
No disappointment here. The yellow plums worked beautifully as the main ingredient in this sorbet. The ripe and juicy flesh makes the texture of the sorbet almost creamy. Be sure to leave on the skin so your sorbet takes on a lovely yellow hue (plus it makes prep much easier). Enjoy!
Yellow Plum Sorbet
Makes 1½ quarts
2 pounds ripe yellow plums, pitted and sliced
1 1/2 cups (325 ml) water
1 1/2 cups (300 g) sugar
2 Tablespoons vodka
Prepare plums and place them in a medium sauce pan with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until plums are soft, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and add sugar. Stir until dissolved.
Pour plum mixture in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth (small pieces of plum skin may still remain, that is okay because it will make the sorbet look pretty).
Cover and place in refrigerator to fully chill. Once chilled, add vodka and stir to combine. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place plastic or parchment over sorbet (to prevent ice crystals) and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.
Allison says
Yellow plums are amazing!
sue/the view from great island says
We’ve had a long brutally hot summer here in Los Angeles, and the only consolation is that our farmer’s markets are bursting with all kind of plums and pluots. This is such an unexpected flavor, I love it!
Shelle says
It would be a great recipe if it was not so sweet. I mean tooth achingly, sickeningly sweet. Thank goodness I had lots of extra plums because I made a second batch without sugar and mixed the two together. Even then, it was sweet.
If you make this, cut the sugar AT LEAST by half.
Lindsay says
I am sorry to hear that this recipe was not to your liking. It is indeed one of my sweeter sorbets; the increase in sugar was made to account for the large amount of water in the plums (preventing the sorbet from being too hard). Level of sweetness can also be directly related to the tartness of the plums that you use. If you cut the sugar I would suggest adding a bit more alcohol to ensure good scoopability.
Kp Reiling says
Awesome comments! We’re at the end of our yellow plum season here in Washington state, so I’ve had lots of practice with (modifying) this gem of a recipe…
End of season plums need no water added water; I used twice the amount of plums with 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of limoncello (also tried it with Cointreau with good results). I put the mixture in my Vitamix, and then leave it in the container to chill overnight. I give it one more spin in the mixer before churning.
My husband insists this could make a killing at out local farmers’ market (but we’d have to stop eating it, and THAT’S not going to happen!).