Weekend Adventure: Watermelon Sorbet

This weekend my parents went to a local farmer's market and bought some Green River Watermelon for a crafting party my sister-in-law was throwing. No one came, so we had plenty of watermelon, and my son could only eat so much. ^_^ So I thought I would try to make a sorbet out of it.

Now, I have tried to make sorbet in the past, using just the juice. The sorbet was tasty, flavorful, but very much like shaved ice. There wasn't a lot of smooth body to it, and really turned me off. So, I thought I would try something new, based off of Joseph's ice cream recipe. He uses tapioca starch for his stabilizer to provide a smooth creamy texture to his ice cream. Well, I thought the same thing could be done with sorbet. right?

Here is the recipe:

3 Cups pureed watermelon
1 tablespoon lime juice
3/4 cup sugar (optional, if you don't mind a little tart sorbet)
3 teaspoons tapioca starch

I started with using the blender for the watermelon, as I don't have a proper food processor (I'm working on it!). It worked beautifully, so I added the lime juice. Then I moved the liquid to a pot and heated it up. While it was heating, I added the sugar and the tapioca starch, whisking them in. I warmed it until it seemed to thicken (I should have let it come to a boil, I think), and then refrigerated the mixture to cool it down. Once cool, I moved it to my trusty ice cream maker. Within 20 minutes, I had a thick and wonderful smelling sorbet. I quickly scooped it out into a container and placed it back in the fridge.

The sorbet tasted great, except for a strong flavor of tapioca. With milk based mixtures, the tapioca doesn't overpower the flavor, but it seemed to overpower the watermelon's mild flavor. Other than that, it was almost like tasting the watermelon all over again without the familiar crunch.

I think next time I will use less tapioca starch (or perhaps corn starch), and bring the mixture to a boil. Luckily there is plenty of watermelon left over, so I can try it again! ^_^

If anyone has any suggestions, (like you, Joseph!), please let me know!