Watermelon Sorbet & Popsicles

Watermelon is good. Frozen watermelon is even better especially now. This is another favorite from David Lebovitz The Perfect Scoop. I made one batch using regular red watermelons and another using golden watermelons. The flavor is about the same, but the color contrast is unexpected and fun. It's also a lot faster and easier if you go with seedless melons. You'll note this recipe contains vodka. You won't taste it, but it improves the sorbet's texture by lowering the freezing point. You can skip it if you don't want the alcohol.

Note: I tried making popsicles out of the sorbet mixture AFTER it came out of the ice cream machine. I thought the machine might make the texture of the popsicles softer. Wasn't worth the trouble. It made the semi-frozen mixture very difficult to wrangle into the popsicle molds without air bubbles. Next time I'll pour the unprocessed juice mixture directly into the molds.



Watermelon Sorbet & Popsicles

3 pound seedless watermelon to get 3 cups watermelon purée
1/2 cup sugar
generous pinch of salt
1 tablespoon lime juice (1/2 lime)
2 tablespoons vodka

Trim the watermelon rind away and cut the watermelon into small chunks. Whiz in a blender. Measure out 3 cups of watermelon purée. If you have any left, it's excellent for use in aqua fresca or frozen in shaped ice cube trays.



Heat 1/2 cup of the purée with the sugar and salt until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and combine with the remaining juice. Add the lime juice and vodka. Whisk or stir to combine.

To make popsicles: pour into popsicle molds and place in the freezer.

To make sorbet: chill in fridge several hours or overnight, then process in ice cream machine.

Adapted from David Lebovitz The Perfect Scoop.