Chilling out with Cantaloupe Sorbet and Fruit Salad

A refreshing scoop of cantaloupe sorbet and 2 teaspoons of mint sugar took my use-what-I-had fresh fruit salad to next level dessert-worthy. Think about it: Cooling, hydrating, and no-oven needed, this dessert deliciously helped me beat the 100°F temps in Philly. And, sure, it’s healthy, too.

Fruit Salad with Cantaloupe Sorbet

Snuggled in with the blueberries, raspberries, and an unpeeled peach were a couple of little diced sweet-as-sugar tomatoes. This fruit salad was already good enough to eat, but the addition of a teaspoon of just made mint sugar and a scoop of cantaloupe sorbet took it next level. “Enough for two?” you are thinking. I’d say yes, but I actually ate it all.

I’ll tell you what I did to make the sorbet—twice actually—using the same cantaloupe puree. If I had more melon, I’d have tried a third method which is likely the quickest of all.

Prepare the Melon

• Choose your melon. When it is ripe, refrigerate it. Mine was not very tasty. Lime juice helped.
• Wash your melon! Not optional.
• Cut your melon. Use a cutting board with a sharp knife.
• Scoop out the seeds. Compost or discard them.
• Slice into wedges. Remove the rind.
• Slice or dice into cubes. Refrigerate in a covered container.

Method 1: Ice Cream Maker Cantaloupe Sorbet

• First, I pureed the melon in a food processor, added 1 tablespoon of lime juice, and chilled the puree before churning it in my ice cream maker. I have a compressor unit which means plug-it-in-and-go, but ice cream makers like these work well. It’s what my daughter uses.
• In 20 minutes, I saw soft-serve sorbet. I didn’t expect this sorbet to have much body, it actually did. I choose not to add cream or sweetener to make a richer ice cream.
• Next, I spooned the sorbet into a container and froze it for 1 hour. I ate a small scoop and it was quite good, but it did melt very quickly, even in a chilled cup.

Method 2: Food Processor Cantaloupe Sorbet

• The next day, the frozen sorbet was rock-hard, so I let it melt in my refrigerator, wanting to try another method. When the puree was liquid again, I stirred it and poured it into silicon ice cube trays.
• When the cubes were frozen solid, I processed them in the bowl of my food processor. At first, I thought it might be granita, but it did actually pack into sorbet. This is easier.

Method 3

While I didn’t try this out since I was out of melon, next time, I’ll just freeze melon cubes and process them. Do you think this will work?

Make the Fruit Salad

• Assemble the fruit salad right in a serving bowl.
• Rinse and shake dry the berries
• Wash, stone, and cut the peaches into rather small chunks.
• Add a bit of citrus juice. I used 2 teaspoons.
• Optional: Add 1 – 2 teaspoons or more to taste of mint sugar or the same amount of maple syrup.
• Add a scoop of the melon sorbet. Add some chiffonade basil and mint and nasturtium leaves (I had one teeny one on my plant)!

I wanted to dig right in but waited to see how long it would take for the sorbet to melt into a natural syrup for the fruit salad. It took 15 minutes and was very flavorful.

Mint sugar

Fran Costigan

I love adding this mint sugar to my fruit salad to take it to the next level. It's also delicious in iced tea. A little goes a long way. You'll need a spice grinder or coffee grinder to make this mint sugar. I have one from Cuisinart that I use to grind small quantities.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 5 minutes mins

Course Condiment

Cuisine American

Ingredients

 

• 3 tablespoons organic cane sugar
• 4-6 good-sized mint leaves
• 2 teaspoons tapioca starch optional

Instructions

 

• Grind everything in a spice or coffee grinder until the sugar is fine and the mint is completely incorporated with no bits of leaves remaining. The sugar will be a lovely light green and scented with mint flavor.
• Store in a small jar, tightly covered.

Notes

The addition of tapioca starch will keep your mint sugar fluffy.

Keyword mint sugar

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