Last year, I had a heck of a time finding fresh rhubarb. I scoured several grocery stores and farmstands and finally found a small collection of rather withered stalks. They didn’t look too fresh, but I bought some anyway, for fear of not finding anything better. A few days later, we were picking early strawberries at a local farm, and I found that their stand had some lovely, fresh rhubarb stalks. I have to confess, I went a little wild and bought about 4 pounds, hoarding the beloved vegetable against future rhubarb shortages. I made a few recipes but I also chopped up quite a bit and froze it. And boy, was I glad I did. What a treat to have some rhubarb to eat during our long, harsh winter.
I went out with a friend for dinner once and had a gorgeous dessert of rhubarb sorbet in champagne. I’d never thought of rhubarb as a candidate for sorbet, but it turns out that sorbet is actually a perfect vehicle for the tart rhubarb flavour. I got thinking about that dessert recently, and decided I needed to give it a go. What is rhubarb sorbet, after all, but frozen rhubarb sauce? And I certainly know how to make rhubarb sauce! Since my sorbet would be sugarless, I did rely on a trick I’ve read about a few times now, in the hopes of countering any iciness that might arise. This little “trick” is to add a few tablespoons of alcohol to the mix, since it helps keep liquids from freezing solid, an important quality in the absence of sugar. In this case, I chose vodka because it doesn’t have much flavour on it’s own. This is meant to be a family friendly treat, after all!
The Results: Rhubarb heaven! Really, if you like rhubarb, you will find this heavenly. The rhubarb flavour just seems to be intensified through the cooking and then the freezing. It’s actually a miracle that any made it to the freezing process, as the taste of the puree was so good, I wanted to eat the whole batch. And the texture was creamy and not at all icy, so it would seem that the vodka did the trick. The pictures make it look more melty than it actually was…I was working as quickly as I could to get decent photos but it’s not easy when working with ice cream or sorbet!
As with any non-commercial ice cream, it is best enjoyed when freshly made, as the leftovers did freeze very hard and had to be left out for a while before you could even dent the surface with a spoon. So if you are making this just for one or two people, make a half-batch. But whether you make this low carb or with sugar, just make it! It is pure rhubarb heaven.
I have learned through experience that the trick to successfully making ice cream at home is to thoroughly freeze the ice-cream canister and thoroughly chill the puree or custard before proceeding. Don’t skimp on these steps, as I have been known to do, or you will end up with a soupy mess that doesn’t churn properly. My Cuisinart ice cream canister needs to be frozen for a good 12 hours, so I often just keep it in the freezer.
Rhubarb Sorbet
4 cups sliced rhubarb
1 cup water
½ cup granulated erythritol
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon vodka (optional, but helps consistency)
12 drops stevia extract
Combine rhubarb, water, erythritol and lemon juice in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook until rhubarb is very soft, about 10 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a blender or food processor, or use an immersion blender, and process until smooth. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 3 hours.
Stir in vodka and stevia. Transfer mixture to freezer bowl of ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s directions until creamy and thick. Transfer to an airtight container and press plastic wrap to the surface. Freeze until firm to the touch but not hard, 1 to 2 hours. Serve immediately.
Serves 6. Each serving has 20g total carbs but only 4g when subtracting erythritol.
Diane says
I boiled down the rhubarb with the water, erythritol, lemon. Mine is the color of applesauce, not pretty red like your pictures. And do you you think some HWC or cream cheese would make it thicker? also, I want to put it in popsicle molds.
Carolyn says
Rhubarb can be bright red, or it can be rather greenish inside, so I suspect you had the latter. Sure, cream would be lovely and then you could put it into popsicle molds.
Jean Hufford says
Just finished mashing this with my immersion blender. Now to freeze before creaming. I tasted it warm and it’s already refeshing and delicious! Can not wait to eat this frozen sweet n sour treat!
April says
I absolutely love rhubarb also. My mom made the best rhubarb pie and a steamed pudding (It’s kinda like sponge cake) that was to die for. I quit using rhubarb because it took so much sugar and the early artificial sugars were Terrible (with a capital T)!
I have erythritol and Xylitol so I think it is time to make something! It will be a rhubarb ice cream. If you haven’t had any…time to try it. It would be basically a vanilla ice cream with rhubarb sauce in it. We have a ice cream store near here that makes homemade rhubarb ice cream every spring. YUMMMM.
I may even try the sorbet or some of the other recipes.
Thanks for all of them!!!
Delishhh says
Rhubarb my favorite – i have save this recipe – going to make this next. Wonderful.
Sasa says
Ditto on the rhubarb love – I just made a rhubarb fool, it was heaven. Layers of tart rhubarb interspersed with cloudy layers of cream and yoghurt…
Happy When Not Hungry says
I love rhubarb, but have never seen rhubarb sorbet before! What a fantastic idea. I'm so happy it's in season, so will definitely be trying this recipe. Thanks 🙂
Kate@Diethood says
Oh wow…I could so attack a few of those dessert glasses!! Delicious sorbet!!
Anonymous says
y-u-m! just added rhubarb to my shopping list on cookmarked.com because of this! lol. 🙂
briarrose says
Beautiful color…and an awesome use of rhubarb…I wouldn't have thought to do ice cream with it.
Elizabeth says
What a great looking rhubarb sorbet. The color is incredible.
Correen says
I have been on a fruit popsicle kick lately…go figure, it's usually chocolate chip ice cream…ha! Anywho this tasty rhubarb treat will fit right into my recent cravings 😉
Katrina {In Katrina's Kitchen} says
This looks amazing! And you'll be happy to know I've been experimenting with erythritol 🙂
Lisa @ Tarte du Jour says
I stopped by yesterday during the blogger crash so I couldn't comment… I had to come back to tell you how awesome this looks! So refreshing and best of all you use the rhubarb by itself without other fruit… usually it plays second fiddle to the strawberries etc. I'm delighted to see the rhubarb as the star!