Citrus Sherbet

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Happy Holidays y’all! Citrus season is upon us and it’s time for the next experiment in my quest to find the best Citrus Sherbet ever! For my second Citrus Sherbet, I wanted to focus on the flavor of Grapefruit but that poses a bit of a problem in this country.

“Why?” You may ask?

Ideally, White Grapefruit would make an excellent Sherbet but every damn market only sells Ruby Red and Ruby Red contains entirely too much sweetness for proper cocktailing! So what’s a Home Bar Gurrrrl or Dude to do? Simple, add Lemon.

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In order to make Sherbet, we must first make Oleo-Saccharum.

Citrus Oleo Saccharum #2:

the peel of 1 Ruby Red Grapefruit
the peels of 3 Lemons
10 oz Demerara Sugar

Combine ingredients in a jar or other sealable container and muddle so that the oil is released from the peels.
Let sit in the jar overnight, shaking occasionally. You want a syrup to form from the Citrus oil and Sugar.

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Then it’s time to make Citrus Sherbet #2.

To the Citrus Oleo Saccharum you will add:

6 oz Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice
6 oz Lemon Juice

Add juices to jar with the Oleo Saccharum, cover, and shake until sugars have dissolved in juice. Remove peels from jar and strain Sherbet into an airtight container. Will keep for approx 2 weeks in the fridge.

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Wahoooo! Now you have a Grapefruit forward Citrus Sherbet! What to do with it? Well, since Oleo Saccharum and Sherbet are traditional Punch ingredients, the obvious answer is PUNCH.

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I was already thinking “Hmmm Grapefruit would really slam with Batavia Arrack.” And then I had a shower thought (literally in the shower), “What about a hot tea punch?” I looked in David Wondrich’s Punch book for inspiration, lo and behold, there is a hot tea punch with Batavia Arrack!

Ruby Punch (Recipe from 1862, measurements according to my best calculations)

48 oz Green Tea (6 tea bags)
16 oz Sugar
~12 oz Lemon Juice
16 oz Batavia Arrack
16 oz Ruby Port
Garnish: as much Nutmeg as you can stand

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Here’s my adapted recipe to go with Citrus Sherbet #2. No lie, it’s fucking fabulous and is one of the easiest drinking Punches I’ve ever tried.

Hot Ruby Punch (adapted for Citrus Sherbet #2)

6 oz Hot Sencha Green Tea
1 1/2 oz Citrus Sherbet #2
2 oz Batavia Arrack
1 1/2 oz Ruby Port
Garnish: a shit ton of Nutmeg

Add ingredients to mug with the hot tea being last. Garnish with a metric ton of fresh nutmeg.

There you have it! Happy Holidays and enjoy your Citrus Sherbet adventures!

Punch. Punch is what’s happening and so my brain has been itching for a different kind of Sherbet to use in the Punches I’ll be making during the cold months. Lemon Sherbet is clearly the most useful and delightful thing ever, but there are more types of citrus in the world than just Lemon.

Hence, I have begun a quest to create a totally useful Citrus Sherbet. Today, I present Citrus Sherbet #1. Please bare with these iPhone photos, I wasn’t sure that this would turn out properly and didn’t photograph with my real camera. FORGIVE ME!

To start, I grabbed a few Lemons, an Orange, a Red Grapefruit and made an Oleo Saccharum with Cane Sugar.

Citrus Oleo Saccharum #1:

the peels of 3 Lemons
the peel of 1 Orange
the peel of 1 Red Grapefruit
12 oz Cane Sugar

Combine ingredients in a jar or other sealable container and muddle so that the oil is released from the peels.
Let sit in the jar for several hours or overnight, shaking occasionally. You want a syrup to form from the Citrus oil and Sugar.

Then it’s time to make Citrus Sherbet #1.

To the Oleo Saccharum you will add:

5 oz Lemon Juice
4 oz Red Grapefruit Juice*
3 oz Orange Juice

*Not Ruby Red Grapefruit, just Red Grapefruit. The juice was still really tart which is important for Sherbet cause if your Sherbet is too sweet, your Punch is nasty.