Can I safely thaw and refreeze sorbet?
A month ago I made a mango/lime/cilantro sorbet that is delicious. The problem is I put the sorbet into a quart sized container and it's frozen solid (I keep my freezer very cold). Can I safely thaw (or partially thaw) the sorbet and put it into popsicle molds and then refreeze the popsicles? The ingredients are mango, lime juice, cilantro, sugar, and possibly a little water (I can't remember).
The recipe I used was from http://low-cholesterol.food.com/recipe/very-basic-mango-lime-sorbet-224706. The only thing I changed was I added one bunch of cilantro chopped in the food processor with the mango. And I used my ice cream maker.
Ingredients
2 lbs mangoes, chopped (frozen is fine)
1⁄2 cup lime juice (fresh is best)
2⁄3 cup sugar (super-fine is recommended)
1 cup water
Directions
Make simple syrup: Add sugar to water in small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar is fully dissolved. Raise heat and bring syrup to a boil; boil one minute, then remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
Puree thawed mango and lime juice in a food processor.
Stir simple syrup into mango puree. Refrigerate a few hours to be certain puree is cool.
Follow the manufacturer's instructions for your ice cream maker at this point. If you don't have one, pour into a pan and put in freezer; pull out every hour and stir (for 3-4 hours).
Best Answer
Sorbet are typically acidic(from the fruit juices) and contain sugar. Both of these act as preservatives in addition to the extremely cold temperatures that sorbets are kept at. So it is perfectly okay to melt your sorbet ice block. However when you melt the sorbet block, you will want to do it slowly. Fruit/herb flavors are very volatile so if the mixture is over heated, the flavoring will break down and the taste will deteriorate.
When refreezing your mixture, you might want to consider adding a little more sugar into the mixture to prevent it from freezing so hard in the future. Sorbet sugar by concentration is usually around 20-30%. If your sorbet is sweet enough, then you may also add a little tasteless alcohol like vodka to prevent the sorbet from freezing too hard.
Pictures about "Can I safely thaw and refreeze sorbet?"
Can you thaw something and then refreeze it?
The U. S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) advises: Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods.How do you know if sorbet is bad?
Therein lies the golden rule of great sorbet: start with good fruit and don't screw it up. But sometimes, despite your best intentions, good sorbet goes bad: it freezes too icy, or it tastes too sweet, or it melts into a puddle as soon as you start scooping.Why should you not refreeze after thawing?
When you freeze, thaw, and refreeze an item, the second thaw will break down even more cells, leaching out moisture and changing the integrity of the product. The other enemy is bacteria. Frozen and thawed food will develop harmful bacteria faster than fresh.How do you fix an icy sorbet?
If your sorbet is icy:Can You Refreeze Thawed Meat?
More answers regarding can I safely thaw and refreeze sorbet?
Answer 2
I left a container on top the freezer for approximately two or three hours it was soft but still looked and tasted OK. I have popped it back into the freezer and now it's back to the original consistency BUT there is a layer of darker colour at the bottom, I think that might be sugar, so I am going to use the top bit only.
Mine was a lemon sorbet not home-made but shop bought.
Answer 3
Yes, thawing sorbet once is not a bad option. The sorbet can remain safe for thawing twice if kept upto two months. I have tried sorbet for 2 and a half months, thawing ones. After that they get damaged/ unhealthy. You can keep your container on warm water for thawing rather than instantly changing the temperature as in microwave or fluctuate in high heat. I usually follow a bit slow method for warming.
Hope this helps.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.