Peach and Lavender Sorbet

Peach and Lavender Sorbet (0002) by Meeta K. Wolff 

Seemingly non-stop July. Long, endless, lazy days and it seems like everything has slowed down. The wheels appear to turn a lot slower than they do during the rest of the year. School’s out and there’s a more relaxed attitude to the daily routine. My mind, wandering to far away golden beaches and azure blue seas, gets excited at thoughts of a vacation just around the corner.

In stark contrast the local farmers market is alive and bustling with energetic activity in July. Fruit and vegetables in all their bright kaleidoscopic colors, tempt shoppers to overload their baskets. Heavy with tender scenting peas, courgettes, cherries, fennel, artichokes, strawberries, July is bursting with rich, sweet ripeness when it comes to fresh produce. Weaving past the stalls selling bread, cheese, sweets, nuts and so much more, the various aromas intermingling are heady and enticing. 

Peach and Lavender Sorbet (0011) by Meeta K. Wolff

Each vendor cajoles with promises of “the sweetest raspberries” or “the finest aubergines”, armed with pocket knives they cut into the produce and offer a sampling, they know it will be hard to disagree with them.

Today I make my way briskly to the stall in the middle of the square, where I saw sweet, fragrant, yellow-fleshed peaches last week. They were sweeter and juicier with a subtle yet sublime taste, a little of apricots and a little of nectarines. We only bought about a pound last week and before we reached the car we had eaten most of them, our fingers sticky from the juice. This week I planned to buy more. There are many ideas, coating themselves in my head like a sugary layer and as I envisage each creation I encounter yet another new idea. It is dizzying. 

Peach and Lavendar Sorbet (0006) by Meeta K. Wolff 

To be on the safe side I buy two brown bags filled to bursting and another brimming full of aromatic apricots (but those are for another post). I stash the bags carefully in my basket and hurriedly make my way back to the car. It is a hot day and perfect for a refreshing and icy dessert. 

Sitting out on the terrace, I watch the bees buzz around my potted lavender, busily collecting the sweet nectar. I smile, savoring a spoonful of my sorbet, thinking how grand the lazy non-stop July days are.

Peach and Lavendar Sorbet (0003) by Meeta K. Wolff

 

Recipe: Peach and Lavender Sorbet

Printable version of recipe here

 Peach Lavendar Sorbet by Meeta K. Wolff

Prep Time: 1 hourTotal Time: 1 hours 30 minutes (+ freezing time)

Ingredients:

  • 150 g sugar
  • 3 teaspoons edible dried lavender
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 700 g ripe peaches

Method:

  1. In a saucepan bring sugar, lavender, lemon juice with 150g water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for approx 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

  2. With a paring knife slit a cross into the round side of each peach. Blanch the peaches in boiling water, then place in ice water to cool. The skin should be easy to peel off, slice into wedges. Place the peach slices in the lavender syrup and allow to infuse for 30 minutes.

  3. With a hand held immersion blender, finely puree the fruit and syrup. If you prefer, you can strain the syrup through a fine mesh strainer to remove the lavender before pureeing the fruit.

  4. Pour the fruit puree into an ice cream machine and process the sorbet according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer into containers and freeze for a further 2 hours.


Verdict

Peach aand Lavendar Sorbet (0006) by Meeta K. Wolff 

Stone fruit are my big weakness and I can literally eat cherries, apricots or peaches by the bucket. Often just pure or with a subtle vanilla flavored quark or custard. However, we absolutely love to indulge in aromatic and flavorful dishes. This sorbet uses fresh, ripe peaches and a subtle hint of lavender giving a big taste of summer.

Monthly Mingle

The plethora of stone fruit available currently makes for fantastic creations, savory salsa, sauces or salads or sweet pies, cakes or ice creams. Let the imagination run wild. MMBadge-StoneFruit-07-2011

That is what we want you to do this month. It’s all about stone fruit this month as my hostess Sukania from Sips and Spoonfuls hosts the latest Monthly Mingle. We chose Stone Fruit to allow you to take full advantage of July’s bounty. If you are living in the Southern Hemisphere stone fruit preserves or frozen fruit will work perfectly too.

The deadline is July 31st, so you have plenty of time to prepare your dish. We look forward to seeing you at the roundup.



Wishing you all a fantastic rest of the week and a great weekend. Enjoy your lazy seemingly non-stop July!

You might like these stone fruit ideas from WFLH:

Peach and Cardamom Goat Cheese Tart

Chocolate Raspberry and Peach Brownies Apricot Saffron Cake


All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2011 Meeta Khurana Wolff unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

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38 comments:

  1. Meeta, you weave the story so effortlessly and your images are pure beauty. Now, I am feeling a pang for summer and stone fruit (though we do have some cherries) and for an ice cream maker- so expensive in these parts I want to weep. Beautiful snippet of your life in July...p.s can't wait for your azure water vacation

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  2. A fabulous combination! I have done something quite similar for this months MM event... ;-P

    Gorgeous clicks!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. I love the combination! And gorgeous pictures as always. :)

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  4. You are so lucky. We are having a poor stone fruit season here for the moment and I am in a pitiable state since I love them so. I will be making something for the new Monthly Mingle today. And now I think I should be making sorbet too. Yummy!

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  5. You've captured the feel of Summer so beautifully, just as you've freeze the moment, pun intended, of the essence of peaches.

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  6. Not only do I love the combination of flavors here, but the colors are gorgeous as well! And we can't forget how marvelous this must smell too! Beautiful Meeta!

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  7. Love, Love lavender! I might have to try it sometimes. Thanks for the recipe!

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  8. Beautiful Meeta! It looks amazing specially the picture on the icrecream in the pan :-) What lovely flavors. I have learn to love lavender in desserts but it has to be in a precise amount and I think this is perfect :-)

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  9. O can I have some of that then while my coconut yogurt ice is turning? :) I love the sound of this sorbet and I bought so much apricots today that I will have too much so maybe I'll make an apricot sorbet.. Mmm, gotta think this through... But it looks delicious Meeta!

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  10. Stone Fruits are my favorites as well, I look forward to them all year long. It's such a shame that the fruit we get here pales in comparison to the delicious varieties in Europe. The apricots I eat in France are just amazing!

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  11. Love the addition of lavender! Just today I was in doubt: to make peach sorbet or sour cherry sorbet. Although I opted for cherries, I will try this one too. Thank you for the lovely recipe :)

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  12. thats a good recipe and I'll sure add it to my recipe book. it is best for a hot summer day.

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  13. I am eating these stone fruits non stop. It's sweet and so refreshing. Love all the photos .. my fav is the one in the pan with that yellow spoon :)

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  14. Lovely sorbet! Sounds like a great combination of flavors.

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  15. Sorbet looks super refreshing and flavourful..

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  16. Oh wow. I would love to get my hands on those peaches. All you can get here are overly refrigerated ones from France or Spain and sweet and syrupy are not what they taste like at all. The lavender sorbet sounds interesting. I usually like lavender on my pillowcase - not in my food - but think this is worth a shot because we have buckets of it growing outside.
    Enjoy your vacation...

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  17. I have never used lavender in my cooking. The sorbet looks so refreshing.

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  18. This is lovely. I love the combination of flavors. And as I sit here with the fan on it sounds like a perfect snack. I love stone fruit too. Ours doesn't arrive until August.

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  19. The Monthly Mingle theme sounds very interesting. Loved your description of the farmers market. I was able to picture it in my head :)

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  20. This sorbet really looks great! This looks like a recipe I would seriously and happily prefer to try out this weekend! Lovely blog and great pictures!! The Stonefruit monthly mingle sounds great...let me make something out of it!

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  21. Thank you everyone so much for your comments. I love going to the Framers market but especially in the summer months as all the exciting fruit and vegetables available resonates within me. This sorbet is the typical kind of idea I get when I am there. Lavender and peach work so well together - I hope you like it, all those who try this.
    Hugs!

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  22. I've been seeing lavender pop up a lot lately. I haven't seen it in ice cream yet but so far this may be my favorite use of it. This ice cream looks incredible though! I think I'm going to have to try it.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  23. This peach and lavender sorbet sounds like a wonderful summertime treat. Thanks for the recipe.

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  24. Meeta, you had me hooked with your opening paragraph. I'm now longing for the taste of summer. Gorgeous sorbet. The flavours have me drooling.

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  25. Lovely!
    Lovely!
    Lovely!
    Thank you for the recipe.
    I'll try it shortly. :)

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  26. Freshly picked fruits + lavender = delicious treat! Thank you for sharing your recipe with us. We also have a great community for foodies, it's called FriendsEat. You might want to share your reviews with others in the community aside from your blog :)

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  27. Awesome recipe! Perfect because peaches just came into season!

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  28. You have my mouth watering! And I don't even like sorbet!

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  29. Absolutely gorgeous my honey, absolutely so! I love stone fruit, love sorbets ... and love this beautiful combination! Everything to win me over! Hugs my friend. Got to catch u on Twitter soon!!

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  30. Non-stop July indeed...! And unsurprisingly as your Borg sister I also have a thing for stone fruits. Last week at Portobello road a friend and I polished off a bag of cherries as big as small apricots - it was a transcendent experience!

    Can life get any better than this pretty, peachy sorbet? We're fools to believe it, we're fools if we try ;o)

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  31. lovely pictures! does anyone know if you can make sorbet somehow without a machine? tia!

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  32. Great pictures - looks like a wonderful, fragrent desert.

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  33. Thank you everyone for all your great comments. Glad you are liking this post so much!

    Epicurea - Yes - all you need to do follow the steps as mentioned to step 3. Then pour the liquid in am a container with a lid, preferably a metal one (if you place this in the freezer for about 30 minutes prior you'll get great results) then give it a good whisking. Cover and place in freezer. After 30 minutes remove from freezer and whisk it again and place back in freezer. Continue to do this for 2-3 hours, whisking the mixture every 30 minutes. You'll notice after each 30 minute session the mixture get thicker and creamier. Once it has reached the consistency you like you can either serve (at his time it will be softer) or leave it in the freezer for 2 hours (without whisking). Let me know how it goes.

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  34. Lovely looking sorbet. Just perfect for the summer time.

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  35. I love the combination of peach and lavender, I can't wait for my lavender to flower again.

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  36. Such a gorgeous sorbet, the lavender makes it extra special!

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Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hugs
Meeta