Help with belnding sorbets, seems to be not going so well?

[LeeJ]

I don't seem to be accomplishing sorbets well! 

I'm adding the ice as per the recipe, but it's not 'keeping up', even with the spatula, I'm ending up with quite a bit of ice uncrushed, and I'm blending for a good 3 minutes.

I'm also finding, it's not grinding the seeds in berries as well as it did at the demo.  I found at the demo, they were almost gone, but I have quite a few now, not grinding long enough?

Thought some of the tried and tested users would have a better idea!

[katesjoy]

I've only made sorbet a few times LeeJ and never had a problem, but from what l've read, the type of ice used can sometimes play a part.  Do you use ice maker or store bought or ice cube trays?

[LeeJ]

I use ice cubes made in my freezer

[Meagan]

Make sure you are using the spatula to aid stiring - don't be afraid to be vigorous
As for seeds you will get bits of raspberry or the like having crunchy bits but other fruit like strawberry etc should be very smooth!

[faffa_70]

personally I think Raspberries (as much as I adore them!!) are the worst fruit you can use in sorbets, fruity dream etc because of the seeds!! 

[AmandaN]

personally I think Raspberries (as much as I adore them!!) are the worst fruit you can use in sorbets, fruity dream etc because of the seeds!! 

I am thinking that I might make some strained syrup, and freeze it in cubes to get around that.  Raspberries are so yummy!

[em]

i gotta agree with faffa, i cant stand the seeds in a sorbet, its ment to be nice and smooth! i love mango sorbet.
i had the same problem lee when i was starting out, i found stirring vigoursly helped and sometimes if it sounds like the motor is toiling add a touch of water to get things moving again.

[earth mumma]

Hi Lee.

Sorbet can be tricky to get the hang of but once you do you'll love the TM sorbet.  This is what I do - blitz sugar, add fruit egg white and 350gm of ice - (weight another 300-350gm of ice into you steamer basket and set aside) it's important not to add all the ice at the start as this places lots of stress on your blades.  The blades won't break, but the shaft of it can.  If this happens they need to be replaced.  Have a small glass of water handy.  Set time for one mintue, hold your spatula so it is standing straight up through the hole in the lid.  Turn up to speed 10.  Vigorously stir (you really need to get your wrist going, like you are trying to scape it off the outsides of the bowl) After 10 secs of stirring add the rest of your ice onto the lid of your TM- let it fall through the hole, keep stirring.  Stop for a sec and if it sounds like it's not moving quickly add a little water and keep stirring.  After about 30 seconds it should be doing the work without you needing to sir - if it's not add a little more water and keep testing to see if it will do the last 10-15 secs by itself.  See how this goes and if it's still very icy it might just be that your freezer freezes really hard and you might like to try having you ice out of the freezer for a few minutes before making your sorbet.  Good luck

[LeeJ]

Ahhh, so everyone has that problem with raspberries?  They are a favorite around here!

Earth Mumma, thankyou, that's how I've been doing it, thank goodness! Might be that it needs a bit more water, as I'd been trying that and it helped, but it still seemed to be getting 'stuck', and not spinning everything together. I'm do the first 350, then blend, then the next.

Is it normal for anyone else to add water to their sorbets? Even for watery fruits, I'm finding I need to add extra to get it to blend.

Perhaps I'll try a few more fruits, oh the ideas! 

[faffa_70]

I find I generaly only need to add water if I am using frozen fruits ...

[Meagan]

As faffa said you should only have to add water to frozen fruits......

[earth mumma]

For me it's variable, sometimes I have to add water and sometimes I don't.  And funnily enough when I make a fruity dream (with frozen fruit) I very rarely have to add water.  I do like to sometimes replace some of the ice with frozen fruit so maybe try that and see if it gives you a less icy texure.  So 300gm fresh fruit, 300 frozen fruit and 300gm ice.  Like the others have said rasberrie are particularily seedy, I don't mind this as I love the raseberry taste, but do prefer mango/orange (frozen segments) and strawberry sorbet.  Have you tried a fruity dream yet?  They tend to be smoother.  I sometimes do a 300gm fresh strawb, 300gm frozen strawb and 300gm frozen watermellon with no ice.

[JaneeZee]

I certainly think that the trick is in splitting the adding of the ice.  When I first trained as a consultant we put the whole lot in & it could be a bit hit & miss.  I find if I do the fruit, egg white & 350g of ice for around 20 seconds then add the remaining ice & use the spatula when it makes that "missing it going nowhere" kind of noise to ensure all the ice is incorporated, then do at least 20 seconds once the tone has changed & everything is humming along nicely, then it is perfect.

I disagree about raspberries, blueberries are the worst due to their skins!  Have you tried pureeing the fruit before adding the ice & egg white?  That might help with the seeds, they don't bother me or guests I've had to date.

As someone else said you normally only need additional water when the fruit is frozen & you can tell if you need to add that because the machine sounds like it's struggling.

It's all about "cooking with your ears"!!

[achookwoman]

Blackberries are much worse than raspberries.   A little fluid usually gets things going.