Concord Grape Sorbet with the Thermomix (and without)
The vivid colour is testament to the vibrant flavour of this Concord grape sorbet. Who knew? Not I. Having never preserved anything grape, I had no idea how to prepare them for recipes. I certainly do now. Master mentor, knowing it or not: Charmian Christie, The Messy Baker. Participating in The Canadian Food Experience Project has put my finger on the pulse of what is happening across the country during the harvest, and Charmian makes grape pies, jam and sorbet with the ripe and ready Mighty Concord seasonally available in her area of Ontario. I am not so lucky. 
Concord grapes are grown in our neighbouring province, British Columbia; however, I grew up looking forward to them in the markets every fall in the prairies. Unlike peaches, apricots, and pears, we didn’t buy cases of them to preserve. We only enjoyed them fresh. Working with grapes just wasn’t part of my family food culture. Nor was it a part of any one else’s food culture living in our area growing up. I am curious about that, as it is definitely a traditional part of other regional food cultures across North America where they grow.
Learning how to prepare Concord grapes for recipes was enlightening: slightly time consuming, but straightforward. This recipe was going to be made in my Thermomix. You don’t need my favourite kitchen machine to make this sorbet. I standard ice-cream maker will do it, yet for those of us that have one, in about 15 seconds we have sorbet. I kid you not.
This can be done by freezing the prepared grapes and then pureeing the frozen cubes in the Thermomix bowl with the sugar in about 30 seconds, or puréeing the fruit first, freezing the cubes and then puréeing the frozen cubes in the Thermomix bowl with the sugar in about 5 seconds. Take your pick. I tried both. The first can leave a skin her or there if you like, and I like. The second method is smooth as silk, but you have to wash the machine twice. 
Love that I can pulvarize crystal sugar in a couple of seconds to the finest powdered sugar and there are no fillers in it. Do you know how much you pay for powdered sugar compared to regular sugar?
Plop the cubes in the bowl after the sugar has been powdered, and blitz away. Careful: only 15 seconds, tops.
Some may want it finer, then blitz again… but you will need to freeze it before you can eat it. You can see that this (above) is ready immediately. It freezes and scoops well, too. Adding a tablespoon of liqueur will add extra zip and keep the mixture easier to scoop in the freezer.
This was not a hot day. Concord grapes ripen in the fall, so rarely will it be a hot day for this refreshing treat, but it is such a revitalizing pleasure, it doesn’t matter.
And magnificent on top of a slice of Traditional Grape Concord Pie, coming soon to The Canadian Foodie.com. Buy your grapes now at the City Centre Market downtown.
Concord Grape Sorbet
Making this with the Thermomix machine takes 30 seconds - after preparing the grapes. Either way, this is that one rare treat where everyone will ask for seconds. This amount makes about 1/2 a litre or a very small batch, but enough for 8 or more generous scoops.
Ingredients
- 400 g prepared Concord Grapes
- 1/4 cup or 60g sugar
Instructions
Preparing the grapes:
Instructions for the Thermomix:
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Scale the prepared Concord grape mixture in ice cube trays (one tablespoon per cube); freeze
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Place 12 frozen cubes of prepared Concord grapes in the freezer OR
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Puree prepared Concord grapes in TM bowl for 30 seconds at speed 0-10 first 15 seconds then at speed 10 the remaining 15 seconds
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Scrape down the side of the bowl and turbo 3 times for 5 seconds
Once cubes are frozen, to prepare sorbet:
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Scale 60 grams of sugar into the TM bowl; pulse 1 second at Turbo, 2 times
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Add frozen pureed Concord grape cubes to theTM bowl with sugar
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Use the spatula in the hole through the lid to keep the mixture close to the blades; blend for 10 seconds from 0-10
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Check consistency of sorbet; scrape down sides of the bowl and repeat one more time, if necessary
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If using cubes without pureed grape mixture, blend for 30 seconds from 0-10
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Check consistency of sorbet; scrape down sides of the bowl and repeat one more time, if necessary
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Serve immediately, or freeze in air tight container for up to two weeks
Making the Sorbet without a Thermomix
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Mix all ingredients together; refrigerate until ice cold (preferably overnight)
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Use ice cream machine as directed by manufacturer
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Freeze an hour or two to cure; serve
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Keeps for up to two weeks in an air tight container in the fridge
I have owned my Thermomix for 6 years and never made sorbet until this fall. I have never been a fan of sorbet. I am an ice-cream aficianado and have made so many flavours of ice cream, I cannot count them all. But sorbet? Nah. Not interested. Too much sugar. What was I thinking? I have a Thermomix for goodness sake. I can control the sugar. I made my first raspberry sorbet for a client doing a demonstration for them on Skype a few weeks ago. They have a son who is lactate intolerant. So, they sent me a recipe to demonstrate for them. I used an egg white. They didn’t. Mine was more voluminous and a lighter colour. Theirs was more dense and intense. Both took seconds to make and were incredibly delicious and one could argue, quite nutritious. Very little sugar was used in either recipe. Similar to this Concord Grape Sorbet recipe. I am now going to be making sorbets with anything I can get my hands on. Within reason. I do really love a lemon sorbet. I have cassis pureé in the freezer now from my black currents. Oh, joy. I feel like I just got a new toy simply because I learned a new way to use my Thermomix. Never too old to learn, nor too old to get as excited as a child about such a simple little thing. But, look at that colour! Anything you can relate to like this?
Valerie, we always made Concord grape jelly when I was a child growing up in Edmonton. My dad loved it and I soon discovered its wonderful flavour and would happily help. It was a special day when dad and I would go to the Italian Market, always the best place to buy grapes and bring home two or three cases of Concords. Other children counted the year by holidays and school events, I counted the seasons by food and what we were processing. Fall was apples and grapes, putting the root veggies into boxes of sand in the basement so they would keep all winter. We ate seasonally and I still do that as much as I can. Late November Woodwards food floor would have large tins of Seville oranges in syrup, all ready for marmalade. They had the skins still on them and it was my job to peel the sticky things and slice them for marmalade while mom and dad prepared the jars and canning kettle. Lots of work but so worth it. Have you ever had homemade marmalade? A little bit of paradise in a jar.
This sounds so good. Love the color!
Thank you, Wanda!
🙂
V
Love that this has two ingredients. I have read that you can make sorbet (and ice cream) by crushing “ice cubes” of mixture in a blender but have never seen it done. Looks delicious. This is making me think… You could freeze the unchurned mixture for months and then enjoy this treat any time of year.
Exactly, Charmian!
Love to do things this way for those unexpected moments!
🙂
V
Wow, I remember what a treat Concord grapes were, too, as a child. But we usually only got one small basket each fall – just for a taste of their juicy lusciousness. What fun to play with all that bounty of grapes as you do. The end results of your labours look pretty wonderful and I can imagine their intense flavour!
Hi, Margaret,
Maybe it was the price, then…? Were they so expensive that one box was all we could get? Or, was it simply lack of experience of knowledge about what to do with the grapes that we didn’t do with them what we did with the pears, apricots and peaches every season?
I truly wonder.
Valerie