Peach Sorbet: Easy as 1 2 3

Peach season is in full swing but who in their right mind wants to cook in this heat?  Here is the perfect solution instead of making a pie or crumble make a sorbet.  Easy, delicious and for those of you who don't eat dairy this tasty treat is 100 percent Vegan.

If you are anything like me you're the kind of person who gets so excite at the market that you buy things that you have great plans for (I'm going to make Peach Pickles, Sour cherry & Peach Crumble, Peach Preserves, Ginger Peach Upside Down Cake and freeze the rest!) then when you finally get home from the market sweating and exhausted all you are ready for is a glass of wine and a nap. 
So you stuff all the peaches in the fridge and vow to deal with them later.  Mmmmmmm well later can be hours or weeks away.  So for those peaches that have been waiting too long to be eaten or cooked this recipe is perfect. 

Peach Sorbet

You need about 2 pounds of peaches skinned and pitted so that means before processing you should have 2 1/2 pounds to be on the safe side.  Especially if you are using bruised and otherwise neglected peaches as you will inevitably end up cutting chunks off to be discarded and will end up netting less then you might think.

Skin all the peaches, you can do this two ways.  The most common is dipping them in boiling water for a minute then plunging them into an ice water bath the other and maybe easier way is to use a serrated vegetable peeler.  This later method works best on firmer more perfect peaches so for this recipe I did the water bath.  Up to you.

After you have skinned your peaches remove and reserve the pits.  Be careful to do all your work over a bowl and keep every drop of peach juice,  roughly chop the peaches up and with their juice put them in a medium sized heavy bottomed stainless steel pot.  You should have approximately 2 pounds of peaches and juice. 

You can see in the picture below that I have a little cloth bag which I put about 6 of the peach pits in.  I put them in the bag and then smashed them with a hammer, just to split them up not to pulvorize them, and added them to the Peaches in the pot. You could also just wrap them in cheesecloth.  Or you can omit this step altogether.  It is suppose to infuse the peach juice with a slight almond flavor.  I'm not sure I can tell, but I like the idea of it so I do it.

Simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes, giving a stir every so often.

 

After the 10 minutes remove the pits and add 3/4 cup of can sugar.  Stir over heat for another two or so minutes until the sugar has dissolved.  Remove from heat, take out the pits and stir in juice from half a lemon and 1 Tablespoon of Kirsch or Vodka or Almond Extract.

Place the mixture into a blender or food processor and puree.  My peaches where very juicy and soft if for some reason you over cook them or you use firm peaches you may need to had some water at this point, but only if the mixture is too think and not processing to your liking.

Remove the mixture from the food processor/blender and cool.  I placed it in an ice bath then when it had cooled to room temp placed it in the fridge for about 4 hours.  You can cheat and place it in the freezer for about 20 minutes to get it cold just don't forget about it!

Place in your ice cream make and  process accordingly. Great served with Ginger Shortbread

(the link has gooseberries on the short bread you can make it without or swap out fresh peaches for the gooseberries!)