Vegan-friendly beer and wine sorbet
In case you’ve somehow managed to miss it, there’s a global heat wave going on at the moment. So, I decided to treat you (and myself of course!) to one of the coolest desserts out there right now – Sor-beer! That’s the fun name for a sorbet made with beer! But if you’re not a beer person, I’ve got you covered too, with an equally cool red wine and raspberry sorbet!
This sorbet is based on a recipe that local ice cream makers Stikki Nikki and brewers Carlsberg Sweden came up with. And a similar wine sorbet was featured in a recent issue of the vegan Swedish magazine Vego. So, Swedes, normally pretty conservative when it comes to alcohol, are behind these two cool summer dessert ideas. Ok, to be fair, the official sor-beer recipe used non-alcoholic beer, so that is an option – just not the one I went for.
A vegan recipe featuring beer and wine as the key ingredients, is the ideal time to talk about why not all alcohol is vegan friendly, and about what might be lurking in your favorite drink. Whether you follow a strict plant-based diet or not, people are often surprised to hear about some of the things used to clarify beer and wine. Isinglass is a substance obtained from the swim bladder of certain fish, and is sometimes used to clarify beer. While wine might be clarified with a variety of animal-based substances including egg whites, gelatin, and casein, which is derived from milk. Depending on the labelling requirements where you live, there may be allergy warnings on wines containing egg or milk products. Vegan “ethical warnings” for alcohol with traces of seafood or gelatin are unfortunately not required, but our voices are being heard by companies like Guinness and Baileys ,who are starting to sit up and take notice of new consumer demands.
The recipes themselves are pretty easy, and straightforward, even if they require a bit of planning due to the time needed to freeze and re-freeze the sorbets. So don’t underestimate that freezer time! If you have an ice cream machine, however, they’re a breeze! With the temperatures soaring to all-time highs, a little vegan-friendly beer and wine sorbet is an especially fun summertime treat!
Ingredients
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Beer sorbet
- 2 x 12 oz (33 cl) – vegan-friendly beer, ideally an international style lager, with little bitterness
- 1½ lbs (7oo g) – sugar
- 2½ Tbsp (ca 40 ml) – lime juice, about 1½ limes
- 2½ Tbsp (ca 40 ml) – lemon juice, about 1 lemon Wine sorbet
- 1 demi bottle, 12½ oz (375 ml) – vegan-friendly red wine, light and fruity
- ½ cup (1.2 dl) – water
- ½ cup (100 g) – sugar
- 9 oz (250g) – fresh raspberries
Instructions
Beer sorbet- Pour one beer into a sauce pan, add the sugar, and heat on medium low, stirring frequently, until all the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, add the second beer and cool in refrigerator.
- When the liquid is cool, add the lime and lemon juice, and stir well. Pour into a bowl and freeze, or process in an ice cream maker for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the mixture from the freezer, break it into chunks , mix in a blender until smooth and then re-freeze the mixture.
- Scoop, serve and enjoy your Sor-beer!
- Pour half the wine into a sauce pan, add the sugar, and heat on medium low, stirring frequently, until all the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, add the remaining wine, water and raspberries cool in refrigerator for one hour.
- Use a potato masher to mash the raspberries. Pour the mixture through a strainer into a bowl and freeze, or process in an ice cream maker for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the mixture from the freezer, break it into chunks , mix in a blender until smooth and then re-freeze the mixture.
- Scoop, serve and enjoy!
Additional info
Without an ice cream maker, the longer you leave your sorbet in the freezer, the better. The first freeze only needs to be a few hours, but the second time should be at least overnight if not longer.
If for example, you wanted to serve it on a Saturday evening, I’d do steps 1 + 2 Friday morning, Step 3 Friday evening, and then re-freeze it for nearly 24 hours.