Yuzu Sorbet

Uninspired beginnings, surprising end results.

Source: www.visitkochijapan.com

Let me begin by saying I could not find any actual yuzus with which to make this recipe. I tried at Berkeley Bowl and I tried at Monterrey Market, but had no luck at either.¹ And no, I didn’t do what you might fairly assume I did, which is make a cursory (i.e. half-assed) search and give up after two minutes—which is clearly what happened when I was hunting key limes. In my yuzu search, I actually asked the produce staff at both establishments to assist me, and in each instance, the produce staff member kindly went out of their way and searched the store before telling me they didn’t have any in stock. The guy at Berkeley Bowl even said they usually have them during this time of the year. Perhaps there’s a shortage. According to this article from the always reputable Martha Stewart.com, yuzu “is native to East Asia, and importing it into the United States is illegal, so any yuzu fruits you buy in the U.S. will be grown in California.” Translation: the California Farm Bureau has failed us.²

But no matter, I got some yuzu juice at Berkeley Bowl and made do with that. Here’s how it all went down…

The ingredients we’re working with this week.

After my texture breakthrough on the POG sorbet, I was feeling pretty confident about my sorbet-making skills. In other words, this came together quickly and easily. In terms of the recipe, I used this one from Just One Cookbook as a starting point: 2 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar. That recipe also calls for the juice and zest of six yuzus, and since I didn’t have any yuzus, I decided to use 1/2 cup of yuzu juice in its place (in the picture it says extract, but trust me, it’s just pure yuzu juice). I also decided to add my favorite duo of corn syrup and guar gum: as per ush, I removed two tablespoons of sugar and replaced it with 2 tablespoons of corn syrup.

Add the water, the sugars, and then heat until combined.

A half cup of yuzu juice.

Plus some ground seeds of the guar bean.

And then some immersion blending to homogenize the mixture.

At this point, I tasted the mixture, and my reaction was somewhere between, “This is boring” and “This is disappointing.” By boring, I mean the flavor felt too simple/one note. And by disappointing, I mean it tasted overly sweet. Adrienne Borlongan has a Yuzu Creamsicle recipe in her book, and she says including the rind of the yuzu is key for flavoring purposes. So maybe the lack of yuzu zest/rind was what I was reacting to. I’ll return to Borlongan later, but suffice it to say, I felt like it needed something.

It just so happens my daughter was hovering nearby as I was making this, peeling and then eating a blood orange (there’s a lot of citrus in our house this time of year, from satsumas to navals to blood oranges). The aroma from the blood orange skin, combined with Borlongan’s recommended technique, inspired me to add some blood orange zest to the mixture.

Some blood orange in the bottom right corner.

I’ll get to whether or not this fixed the problem momentarily. But first things first! Here’s this week’s churning video:

I should also note that I didn’t bother to use the refactometer (my guar gum confidence at work) or chill it very much beforehand. I think I may have left it in the fridge for an hour before churning—my machine has a compressor, so it’s no biggie if I do that. If, however, you’re using a freeze-bowl ice cream maker, you should always pre-chill your mixture for at least a few hours before churning.

I know, I’m wasting time. What you really want to know is: how did it turn out?

Very glossy

The texture was great. Smooth and scooped up easily. Not surprising given the ingredients. I think moving forward, I’ll just stipulate that anytime guar gum is involved, the texture will end up being just right. No need to keep repeating the same thing week to week.

A teeny tiny scoop.

The taste, on the other hand, was a huge surprise. It was really good! It was not at all too sweet; it was actually a little bit sour/tart. I almost wish it was even more sour, almost like a sour gummy. But overall, the sweetness and tartness of the flavor was highly enjoyable. And the flavor was not one note. There was a slight bitterness and tanginess to the yuzu that struck me as complex yet also refreshing. I’m not sure if the blood orange zest did anything, but I’d like to think it helped up the tartness factor.

In the future, I’d be interested in trying Borlongan’s recipe, which uses honey citron (i.e. yuzu) tea for flavoring and as a sweetener. Because honey citron is full of yuzu peel, it satisfies her parameters. Given that we have two bottles of honey citron tea sitting in our fridge—it’s clutch when you’re feeling sick—I guess I could have saved myself $14.

What I’m about to say, you’ll almost never hear me say, so take note: this brand is way better than the brand that Costco sells.

But all that aside, I think this came out really good. And here I was, convinced that it was gonna be a failure. Can’t rush to judgment on ice cream. I’ll end with a review from one of my taste-testers, that I just received via text:

Hi! I’m________I am a _______ grader at _________, and I am your number one fan of your sorbet. I especially like that it is not just sweet, but also a a little bit sour.

Great minds, folks. Great minds.

See you next week, when we’re making Peanut Butter Chocolate. Until then!

1. Maybe I should have tried Ranch 99.

2. Or maybe it’s the “Newsom-Pelosi created drought”! Because as all drivers of the I-5 know: Food grows where (unlimited and highly subsidized) water flows.