The thing about having an ice cream maker is that you get to taste any ice cream flavours that you can ever think of. When it comes to creating new ice cream flavours, only the sky is limit. And you know what, you are always allowed to improvise.

We’ve been making and eating too much ice cream. And I figured it would be refreshing to have something fruity and citrus instead. I am a big fan of fruity sorbet. The one with no diary products – no milk and no yoghurt. I’d rather having ice cream than having milk in my sorbet. Pure fruit is my kind of thing.

This recipe is pretty generic. You could substitute the orange juice with other fresh fruit juice, and come up with your own sorbet. What I recommend though is to use fresh fruit because it tastes fresher and less sugary. You don’t have to add basil if you are not a big fan. But you should at least try that because basil does work perfectly with fruity sorbet. It simply rounds out the orange flavour. It works well with strawberry sorbet too.

Like I said, we’ve been having too much ice cream. We love ice cream, we do! But summer is this long, we have a lot of rooms for some alternatives!

Ingredients (serves 6-8):
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
1 cup basil leaves
3 cups freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions:
In a saucepan, combine sugar, water and basil. Simmer until sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. Strain the syrup, and chill in refrigerator for an hour.
Mix in orange juice, and strain the mixture.
If using ice cream maker, process mixture in it according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to an airtight container, cover and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.
If not using ice cream maker, pour mixture into a shallow non-stick banking pan. Freeze until frozen, about 2 hours.
Leave the mixture in room temperature for 15 minutes to soften from the edges. Use a fork to scrape big chunks of mixture into a food processor or blender to blend until smooth. If it starts to melt, put it back in the freezer for 5 minutes.
Immediately scoop the sorbet and serve.