Homemade Blackberry Sherbet Recipe

Blackberry sherbet is a delicious frozen treat, a creamy frozen dessert with the tart flavors of fresh fruit and and the smoother texture dairy products can provide.

Is Sherbet Dairy Free?

Short answer?  No.  Sherbet exists somewhere between ice cream and sorbet.  It has dairy in it, which gives it a bit of creaminess, but the butterfat percentage is (legally, according to the Food and Drug Administration) between 1-2%, so it has a much more vibrant, fruit-forward flavor than ice cream.  The dairy ingredients (just a small amount of dairy) give it a creamy texture, but it has a much more fruity flavor.  It's the best of both worlds--a creamy consistency with incredible fruity flavors.

You'll need an ice cream maker to make homemade sherbet.  Any traditional ice cream maker will do, but I absolutely love my Cuisinart ice cream machine.  It freezes the ice cream ingredients as it churns them--no need to find freezer space for a large bowl with this ice cream maker!  Yes, its more expensive than some machines, but if you love homemade ice creams and other frozen desserts, it's absolutely worth it.

The key to an amazing homemade sherbet is a fruit puree.  Blackberries have a lot of seeds that I wanted to remove, so I used a food mill to puree the fresh fruit and make it a fruit puree with a smooth texture.  If you're using a fruit without seeds, you can use a food processor to make your fruit puree. Or if you're looking for more exptic fruits, you can buy excellent fruit purees (like this passionfruit puree) online.

Blackberry Sherbet Recipe:

• 2 cups blackberry puree (no seeds!)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup light karo syrup (corn syrup)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Why use Corn Syrup in a Sherbet Recipe?

Sugar likes to revert to its original shape.  Crystalized sugar likes to crystalize again.  Invert sugars, like corn syrup, like to stay in their smooth, non-crystalized state.  Using corn syrup helps achieve a rich texture with a lot less dairy than traditional ice cream.

How to Make Blackberry Sherbet:

Combine all of the ingredients together and put in your ice cream maker.  Follow the directions of your ice cream maker to churn the sherbet.  The churning process creates the creamy, light, brightly flavored sherbet.  

My ice cream maker takes about 45 minutes to create the most amazing sweet treat you could ever want on a hot summer day.

The homemade sherbet will be quite soft when it comes out of the ice cream maker.  Put it in an ice cream container and store it in the freezer.  Home freezers are set at a lower temperature than commercial ice cream freezers, so the sherbet will be quite hard when you first bring it.  Let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes and it will scoop perfectly.

I'm sharing this recipe as part of the Taste Creations Blog Hop.  It's the perfect ice cream alternative with vibrant fruity flavors to make for Mother's Day this year.  For other amazing mother's day recipes, be sure to check out what my  blogger friends are making:

Our Good Life:  Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps

Mom Home Guide:  Homemade Queso Recipe

Other Blackberry Recipes You Might Like:

Other Ice Cream and Frozen Dessert Recipes You Might Like: