When Melon Died and Went to Heaven, or the Best Melon Sorbet Ever

When at an Italian ice-cream shop, I always choose the same flavour: melon. Melon with hazelnut, melon with raspberry, melon with chocolate… And most of the time, I’m slightly disappointed. It could have been just a bit better.

Last weekend, I brought a Cantaloupe melon from Italy, and was wondering what to do with it. To cut it and serve with prosciutto to my still very much carnivore kids? To serve it as a part of a fruit salad? Luckily I didn’t do any of those, but instead, used it to make the best melon sorbet I’ve ever had. It just could NOT have been better. And it’s simple as well! Here’s how it goes:

In a pan, heat up 100ml water and dissolve 100g sugar in it. Let cool. Prepare a large Cantaloupe melon, cut it into cubes and puree with a hand mixer. You should have about 600g of puree. Pour the syrup into the melon puree and cool well. If only served to adults, add 2 Tbsp melon liquor, meloncello (for a vegan version, leave this out, it has cream in it).

When the mixture is cold enough, prepare the sorbet according to the instructions of your ice-cream maker – and serve immediately!