Lychee Osmanthus Sorbet
Summer is fun, but for the lactose-intolerant/dairy allergic crowd, also a bit of a hot mess. I am, sadly, part of this crowd so this recipe’s how I beat the heat.
I’m not usually one for fruity, icy treats - they feel a bit like a more solid smoothie to me - but lychee anything is always magical. The best part? You only need a tin of lychees, a little osmanthus syrup and 20 minutes* to put this all together.
Ingredients:
1 565g tin of lychees in syrup*
2-3 tablespoons of osmanthus syrup*
Drain the tin of lychees, and blend the lychees until these become a fine purée (or more like a juice). Set the syrup aside.
Once the lychees are all blended, combine the lychee purée with 180ml of the reserved lychee syrup and the osmanthus syrup in a separate bowl, and stir until fully combined.
If you’re using an ice cream maker - churn the mixture according to your ice cream maker’s instructions (mine usually takes about 20 minutes!).
If you’re not using an ice cream maker - fill a large plastic bag with plenty of ice and salt. Pour the lychee mix into a smaller plastic bag, seal it well and then place it inside the bag of ice. Shake the bag for about 10 minutes, or until the mix freezes up and becomes sorbet. You can also do the same thing with bowls (i.e. putting the bowl of lychee mix inside a bigger bowl filled with ice), but it’ll take longer as the ice tends to melt quickly.
The sorbet’s ready to eat now - but if you’d like a firmer texture, store this in the freezer for 10 minutes or so before serving!
*Note: This recipe’s based on the tinned lychees from Twin Elephants (whose lychee syrup is 36% sugar) - if you’re using a brand that has a different sugar concentration in its syrup, you might need to tweak the amount of syrup needed.
*Note: If you don’t have commercial osmanthus syrup (桂花糖) on hand you can make this by soaking dried osmanthus flowers in simple syrup for a few days.