Pomegranate Ginger Sorbet
A tart and refreshing pomegranate sorbet made extra special with the addition of fresh ginger and St. Germain elderflower liqueur.
This pomegranate sorbet is incredibly easy to make. Ridiculously simple, in fact. All you need is 100% pomegranate juice and sugar. You could certainly stop there and make a regular pomegranate sorbet, but I decided to make it a bit extra special and add a couple other ingredients
It takes it from good sorbet to “woh…what’s in the that?” sorbet. Much better, right? In this case, those extra ingredients include fresh ginger and St. Germain elderflower liqueur.
The ginger adds just the right amount of of zing to every spoonful–and the elder flower liqueur helps cut the sweetness and adds a slightly floral note, without being totally over the top. For those not into booze, I promise, it doesn’t make the end result boozy in the slightest. And they work so well together!
Obviously, a lot of us don’t need an excuse to add booze to sorbet. But if you want to get technical (and have an additional excuse), it also has the added bonus of helping keep the sorbet smoother and softer once frozen, since alcohol itself does not freeze. This avoids the whole icy, impossible to scoop sorbet that we’ve all known and experienced.
Technically, since most of us are lucky enough to have access to pomegranate juice year-round, you can definitely make this pomegranate sorbet any time of year. Summer, fall, spring, winter.
The resulting pomegranate ginger sorbet is refreshingly light, with just the right amount of tartness. The ginger and elderflower notes incredibly well pomegranate.
It would work perfectly as a dessert for a heavier meal. You could even make it ahead of time and serve it as a healthier dessert option at Thanksgiving or Christmas!
Pomegranate Ginger Sorbet
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (120 mL) water
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh ginger
- 2 cups (480 mL) 100% pomegranate juice I recommend POM brand
- ¼ cup (60 mL) St. Germain liqueur optional, but highly recommended
Garnish:
- fresh pomegranate arils optional
Instructions
- Combine the sugar, water, and ginger in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally until sugar has fully dissolved. Transfer to a contain, cover, and allow to chill completely in the refrigerator. This will take at least 20 to 30 minutes, or longer.
- Once the simple syrup has chilled, strain the syrup through a fine-meshed sieve set over a large mixing bowl. Discard the ginger chunks. Add the pomegranate juice and St. Germain liqueur to the bowl with the syrup. Whisk together well.
- Churn the mixture in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer instructions. The sorbet is ready when it resembles the texture of a thick slushy.
- Transfer the sorbet to an airtight container, cover the surface with plastic wrap, and freeze for an additional 4 to 6 hours or ideally overnight. Serve and garnish with fresh pomegranate arils.
47 Comments on “Pomegranate Ginger Sorbet”
Does this really make 1 quart of sorbet? I need to make it for 16 people. The ingredients don’t seem enough for a quart…???
Hi Suzette – yes, roughly, a touch less. There is nearly 4 cups of ingredients and 1 quart equals 4 cups. I would definitely overestimate how much you need if you’re serving a crowd. You’ll also need to churn it in batches because that would be a lot, and it really depends on how much you’re planning to serve too.
We stopped for ice cream at “Gladstone’s Land” on the Royal Mile in Edinborough, Scotland last week. You guessed it, they had Pomegranate Ginger Elderberry sorbet and I’m so glad I chose it! (Google the shop and you’ll see photos of it!) I was literally in sorbet heaven for the 10 minutes it took me to eat it on that beautiful 75° afternoon. Of course, I can’t find it anywhere here in the States. I was going to email them and ask if they’d share their recipe when I found yours. I will definitely be trying it and hoping it’s a match or, that I can make it a match! I likened the flavor to a “raspberryish lemonade” last week. Thanks for sharing – my fingers are crossed!
Unless I’m missing something, one cup of granulated sugar is 200g, not 100g as specified in the recipe. Unfortunately I trusted the 100g weight and made the sorbet before that occurred to me. 🙁
So is it one cup (200g) or sugar, or 1/2 cup (100g)?
I’m so sorry Curtis. My recipes were transferred to a new plugin in the last few months and this was a transfer error on my part (they all had to be manually checked and this is an 8 year old recipe on my site) – I’m incredibly sorry, as I know how frustrating this can be and I hate when I’m responsible for these errors as I don’t want anyone to lose trust in my recipes or waste ingredients.
I know this is not clear or obvious, but always go by the first measurement listed, though I hope this is one of the only errors on my site of this type. It should be 1 cup (200 grams) as you said. I will go in and edit this now, and I appreciate you bringing it to my attention.
Again, I’m very, very sorry and I hope it still sets up OK!
Holy gaucamole! This recipe is so simple and insanely good! I didn’t have St Germaine, so I used champagne, and I added frozen pomegranate arils. Both of my roommates are crazy for it and think I’m a kitchen genius… I mean they aren’t wrong, but still. Thanks so much for sharing this amazing recipe.
So happy to hear that you enjoyed it, especially since this is an oldie on the site! Thanks Corinna!
I LOVE pomegranates and must make this right now before they are gone from the store. Thank you! Also, could you answer a blog question? What recipe plug-in do you use? Thanks so much and I’ll let you know how the sorbet goes!
Hi Amy! I actually am a partner with Ziplist, but since I got my blog redesigned, I don’t use the actual plugin (and have a custom format). But they do have a Ziplist plugin for WordPress! Hope this helps. Be sure to let me know what you think of the sorbet.