A simple vanilla bean flecked strawberry sherbet recipe that’s brimming with the vivid sweetness of perfectly ripe strawberries. Jump to recipe.
Last week, I fell into a serious internet rut. Among the thoughts troubling me: Is blogging dead? Am I using lemon zest as a crutch? Can we ease up on the edible flowers? (Please?) I felt doubtful and blocked. I had a pile of strawberries on my table and no plans for them. As I leafed through my copy of The Flavor Bible, I decided I needed to create something MAJOR.
I tried pairing my strawberries with a mix of ground coriander and ginger, I raided the herb garden (edible flowers and all), and generally made myself crazy. Hoping for some inspired combination to present itself, I tasted a lone berry. And another. I realized that what my recipe needed was nothing. Peak strawberry season yields peak strawberries, which speak for themselves.
So I split a vanilla bean and juiced a lemon (I thought better of adding zest). I was generous with the sugar and cream, and swirled it all with a pureed batch of fragrant crimson strawberries. The resulting sherbet (and know that I will not judge you if you call it sherbert), was just what I needed. Simple, of-the-moment, and perfect. Because the ripe berries aren’t cooked, they have a vibrancy in hue and taste that’s nearly transcendent. A good amount of sugar means that the consistency is soft and scoopable without being drippy. Hints of vanilla bean and freshly squeezed lemon juice lend depth and balance the strawberries’ intensity.
Before we head to the recipe, a bit of news! After a year-long hiatus, I’ll be sending out a weekly newsletter beginning this week! Along with recent posts and news, the BkS newsletter will focus on a single seasonal ingredient each week with storage tips and recipe ideas. This newsletter-only series is a followup to last year’s weekly Seasonal Produce Guides and will offer a more in-depth look at featured ingredients with an eye to making the most of CSA produce.
Sign up for the newsletter here.
A few notes: This recipe features both strawberries and cream prominently, so go with the best quality of both. Consider splurging on a jar of local cream. I fully intend to go back and try a version of the sherbet with whipped coconut cream and strongly suspect it will also be delicious.
A simple fresh strawberry sherbet recipe flecked with fragrant vanilla beans.
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 5- inch segment vanilla bean, halved
- 4 cups hulled, chopped strawberries
- pinch sea salt
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup heavy cream
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Pour sugar into a small bowl. Scrape in vanilla beans. Using fingertips, rub beans and pods into sugar until vanilla is well incorporated. Fish out pods and reserve for another use.
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Toss strawberries with vanilla bean sugar, lemon juice, and sea salt. Spoon into the pitcher of a blender and puree. Pour puree into a large mixing bowl.
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Whip cream to soft peaks. Fold whipped cream into strawberry puree, mixing just until combined.
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Set a metal bread pan or other freezer-proof container in freezer to chill. Process sherbet according to your ice cream maker's instructions. After processing, sherbet will be a bit soft. Spoon into chilled container, cover, and freeze until sherbet is set, preferably overnight.
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Set sherbet on the counter to soften slightly, then scoop and serve.
Sometimes being in a rut can help you come up with something like this! Blogging may or may not be dead to some, but I will still keep coming here for every new recipe 🙂 Yum!
I feel the same way too! Sometimes I make recipes way too complicated, when really all you need is something like a simple sorbet!
Sometimes a perfect ingredient is all we need. If I can hunt down perfect strawberries I’ll certainly be making this.
Thanks for the link. Gorgeous photos! Blogging is not dead if you already have a blog and enjoy it. But these days, you don’t have to debut on the internet with a blog. That was Shauna’s point.
Oh darling, I feel like that sometimes too. And about the is blogging dead-thing. I am not sure actually.. The future is doubtful I think. However yours is always a pleasure to read, so please don’t quit. I love this recipe! Have a nice week! xx
Oh, this looks so, so delicious. Love! <3
Seriously amazing photos, as always lady. Plus, I’m fascinated by all these questions. Is blogging dead? Maybe? Probably not? But we’re all definitely using too much lemon zest.
Oh hi, I get burned out on the internet (and all of those predictable ingredients) and question the sustainability of my blog/blogs in general pretty much every time I go to post. This inevitably results in a 100% internal challenge that I call “best recipe eveeeeeer” where I try to come up with a recipe that has all the cool things, is comprised of 10 ingredients or less, can be made in 25 minutes, and looks rustic-polished AF. So dumb! I should just make sherbet instead 😉
LOVE the new logo
Elizabeth! I think many of us bloggers feel that similar wave of self-doubt… especially as blog visits and comments dwindle and everyone focuses on instantaneous likes and snaps etc… I totally read that Lottie and Doof post a few weeks ago and laughed… I just loathe the word zest in general…! There are those quality blogs out there that make reading them worthwhile… yours is one of them! Never a shortage of gorgeous photography and beautiful food ideas on your blog!!!
YAY!!! A new sherbet recipe! I will definitely give this one a go! The quality of strawberry can definitely make or break this recipe. Nonetheless, thanks for sharing! x Dave
I love your seasonal produce guides! They help me discover new produce in a new country. I started subscribing to a CSA this year and it has changed my life! Farm fresh produce is the best. Believe me when I say I didn’t know strawberries could be sweet until I picked and ate some at an organic farm I volunteer at! I look forward to the newsletter. Thanks for the inspiration.