Plum Raspberry Sorbet Food

RASPBERRY-PLUM SORBET

Steps:

• Combine sugar and water in medium saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. Cool sugar syrup completely.
• Blend plums and raspberries in processor until smooth. Strain through coarse sieve into large bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Stir in cooled sugar syrup. Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
• Process sorbet in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer sorbet to bowl. Cover and freeze. (Sorbet can be made 1 week ahead. Keep frozen.)

PLUM-RASPBERRY SORBET

Steps:

• Slice the plums in half and remove the pits. Cut the plums into eighths and put them in a medium, nonreactive saucepan with the water. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, or until tender. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and raspberries. Let cool, to room temperature.
• Once cool, purée the mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. If you wish, press the purée through a mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Stir in the kirsch.
• Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
• Serve scoops of Plum-Raspberry Sorbet in Gingersnap Ice Cream Cones (page 230).
• Normally I'm a fan of leaving things as close to their natural state as possible. Yet in many of the frozen desserts with berries, I choose to strain out the seeds. Why? Much of the pleasure of eating ice creams, sorbets, and sherbets is in the smooth, creamy mouthfeel, and crunching on seeds, or getting them stuck between your teeth, can be somewhat unpleasant if there are a lot of them. Especially if you don't have a toothpick handy afterward. If you do wish to keep the seeds in your mixtures, by all means do so. Or compromise a bit by straining out half of the seeds and leaving the rest in.

RASPBERRY PLUM JAM

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, combine the plums, raspberries, sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in pectin. Continue to boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. , Remove from heat; skim off foam. Ladle hot mixture into six hot pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot mixture. Wipe rims. Center lids on jars; screw on bands until fingertip tight. , Place jars into canner with simmering water, ensuring that they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil; process for 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool.