No, this post isn’t about eating a frozen scoop in the back of an ultra clean new age taxi. We are here, once again, to speak of liquid delights. Shift gears and think for a moment-The mother sauces of the bar are citrus, sugar, and booze, yes? If so, then sherbet would clock in at numero quattro on the totem. For those not aware, sherbet behind the bar is a strange amalgam of citrus juice, citrus oil, and sugar. It’s delicious base comes from the holy oleo saccharum (Latin for oil sugar) which has been around for hundreds of years and was used by not just bartenders but also apothecaries and old school pharmacists who also at times made it with herbs. In the days past the citrus versions were used to flavor punches for parties until vats of watery alcoholic soup fell out of favor and single serve cocktails became the new hotness. Then, like anything good, they came back around.

At Rustic we use lemon and lime sherbets all the time. They’re a staple. They impart not only insane flavor backbone but also a nice unctuousness to cocktails…Yes, mocktails too…Lemonade made with lemon sherbet will blow your socks off.

I first learned about sherbet from the first Dead Rabbit book where they use it in nearly every recipe. It appears very little in other books. Not sure why. In general it doesn’t crop up all that much in the usual online sources.

The typical recipes vary wildly. Some will say a couple cups of sugar to one or two peeled lemons, some say equal parts by weight peels to sugar…And there are many in between. At Rustic we do about 15 lemons/limes to four cups of sugar and it works just fine. If you use the Googles you will see some people with great oleo, fully dissolved and glistening. Do not be fooled, fool. Sometimes they just end up looking imperfect which is A-OK. As a general rule use organic fruit and go for the knobbier looking ones. Those seem to contain more oils than their smooth counterparts.

Sherbet is also great for utilizing your day old juices. Hey, hey, look, another method of stretching your fruit as far as it can go and reducing weight. We are always searching for ways to use all the damn limes and lemons we throw out and this is one of the best.

If you are not aware, the basic gist is to muddle some lemon peels with sugar for an hour or longer depending on your mood. If you have good, oily fruit or if you have used enough peels, the sugar will begin to extract the oils and it all becomes a fragrant goopy mass. Once you’re satisfied, add the same amount of juice to the oleo as you added sherbet. Cook over low heat if you wish…Or stir and hope the citrus dissolves all the sugar…Either way, strain it and toss the peels.

So, über sherbet…

Peel your citrus and add the sugar as usual but instead of regular lemon juice, you will now add lacto lemon juice that was made into a 2% brine in order to lacto ferment your apples, pears, or asian pears. Yes. So instead of tossing this juice you now have a way to enhance your sherbet.

For inspiration, this post from 9/21/24, Bar Hack: Lacto Asian Pear. And as said previously, this will be the go to for awhile this year during apple season which has just started. Last year we just made straight up apple sherbet which was also pretty good but I am really liking this because of the extra layers of flavor supplied by the fermentation process and of course, the salt. Reading these old posts from last year are quite entertaining…They’re a little more angsty and stand offish…But also funny…I think I am mellowing out in my old age…

Your AI generated image for this post, #401.