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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).

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  • What method did you use to make your original sorbet? Did you have a ice cream machine to churn the mixture or was a different method used. And do you remember the concentration of sugar you used?
    – Jay
    Jul 20, 2015 at 18:20
  • @Jay, I edited my post to show the recipe, addition I made (cilantro), and method (ice cream maker).
    – Brooke
    Jul 21, 2015 at 15:26

3 Answers 3

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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.

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  • But if the OP is refreezing as popsicles, they will want them to be harder, right?
    – Catija ♦
    Jul 21, 2015 at 16:02
  • @Catija thats true. I guess it really depends on how the OP wants the popsicles. I naturally just assumed they want a softer/like-sorbet texture for their popsicle.
    – Jay
    Jul 21, 2015 at 16:46
  • I don't necessarily want popsicles, but I figured they'd be easier to eat and no scooping hard sorbet! The softer sorbet texture would be nice, but I keep my freezer very cold, so I'm not sure adding more sugar would even help. The vodka idea might, but I'm not sure I want to go that route.
    – Brooke
    Jul 21, 2015 at 21:25
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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.

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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.

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  • 1
    May I ask where your numbers are coming from? Is this from personal experience or do you have some sort of source? NO offense, but it just seems kind of random to me.
    – Jay
    Jul 20, 2015 at 18:25
  • I'll go a step farther than Jay: generally things are safe indefinitely in the freezer, and sorbet is no exception. There may be quality loss over time, especially if it's not tightly sealed, but it's still completely safe and just as healthy as the day you put it in.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Jul 21, 2015 at 16:01

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