Canned Fruit Is All You Need To Make Homemade Sorbet In A Flash

Even on a frosty winter evening, there's never a wrong time to indulge in sorbet. But because local shops selling icy treats may only be open seasonally, it can be tough to get your hands on the fruity treat. While supermarket brands are one option to appease cravings, we've got an even better idea: Make sorbet at home. Although it might sound like a challenge, the reality is that you can craft a pretty impressive sorbet from scratch as long as you have canned fruit, a food processor, and some patience.

At its most basic, sorbet is made by churning fruit and simple syrup together in an ice cream maker. Given that canned fruit already contains all the elements necessary to make sorbet, freezing a tin is a much more efficient way to go about the process. For instance, canned fruit is already peeled and pitted, saving you some time and effort spent on prepping. Additionally, because canned fruit is preserved in the heavy syrup, the mixture already contains an ideal level of sweetness without the hassle of having to determine suitable fruit-to-syrup ratios.

A truly one-ingredient wonder, canned fruit is also cheaper than buying bushels of fresh fruit. Plus, given that it's picked and packed in peak season, flavors will still be at prime no matter when you decide to make sorbet. Regardless of how you look at it, canned fruit is a genius hack that'll have you enjoying delicious sorbet in no time at all.

Making sorbet with canned fruit starts with placing a tin in the freezer. Once it's frozen, remove the lid and add juices to a food processor before sliding out the frozen fruit block and carefully giving it a chop — dunking the can in hot water can help loosen things up. (Alternatively, you could pour everything into ice trays for quicker freezing and easier handling.) Next, add the pieces of frozen fruit to the food processor and pulse until smooth. Enjoy the sorbet as is, or let it firm up in the freezer before digging in.

As for which canned fruit works best, any fruit — such as peaches, pears, apricots, mangos, or cherries — can be used. Fruit packed in heavy syrup will give you the smoothest and most scoopable texture since it closely mimics the simple syrup used in traditional recipes. Fruits like pineapples, grapefruit, or mandarin oranges that are packed in juice or water can also do the trick if you don't mind an icier result.

Despite being a one-ingredient wonder, the sorbet can be elevated by mixing and matching canned fruits. You could even incorporate extras like citrus zest, a drizzle of hot sauce, chopped mint or basil, a sprinkle of ginger or clove, or a splash of Amaretto or Campari. With so many ways to customize the recipe, canned fruit sorbet will inspire you in more ways than one, which is why it's worth always keeping a can or two of fruit on hand!