Thyme Sorbet

Thyme sorbet has become a bit of a cheffy cliché in the recent past but I still wanted to see what it was like to make. Most recipes that I've seen follow a pretty straightforward sorbet formula, often with lemon, which is additionally infused with thyme. There's nothing at all wrong with that but I'd seen a sorbet with a milky quality in France and I thought I'd try adding milk to this sorbet before the thyme in the garden becomes too ravaged by the winter.

Thyme Sorbet

This recipe only makes a small amount, but I think this works best in small amounts as an accent to other flavours – it worked well alongside a dessert made with blackberries, for instance. I used a mix of lemon and ordinary thyme in this recipe but I think it works with either

5 sprigs of thyme
Zest of 1 lemon
300 ml full cream milk
300 ml water
200 g caster sugar

Bring the milk, water and sugar to the boil, stirring now and then to make sure that the sugar has completely dissolved. As soon as it reaches boiling point take the pan of the heat and add the thyme and lemon zest. Cover and leave to infuse for 30 minutes or so.

Strain through muslin and chill thoroughly. Pour into the ice cream maker and let it do its business in the usual way.

There's a good chance that this will not freeze fully in a simple home ice-cream maker (like mine) and it might need to spend a little time in the freezer to firm up. If it's in the freezer for a while, though, it will need to be taken out to soften a little before serving.

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