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Since it’s been in the triple digits all week, I’ve had frozen treats on the brain. Yes, I could hit the Safeway and stock up on gallons of ice cream, but that would be too easy. After attending an ice cream social at Paul’s work - and tasting a most marvelous strawberry sorbet - I thought maybe I could make some up myself. After all, I have bowls of berries lying around waiting for me to do something with them.

Bowls of berries, huh? I obviously haven’t told you about Paul’s gardening. (He’s the gentleman farmer, not me.) Besides the hops taking over the deck (we use them for home brew) we have blackberries, blueberries and strawberries.

This year our raspberries are out of control. The four scrawny raspberry plants (more like sticks) we got via mail order six years ago took over the entire garden next to where they were planted. They’re also coming up through the middle of the side lawn. And they’ve grown under the fence into our neighbor’s yard, which they’re very happy about considering that on sale, 6 ounces of raspberries costs a dollar.

Every time Paul and the kids go out there, they fill up a medium sized mixing bowl with berries. It’s gotten to the point where I’m inviting people over to do some berry picking, an activity we used to pay to do a local organic farm. Paul has threatened to make jam, which I’m having no part of since I don’t feel like stocking up on mason jars, pectin, and learning how to can. So sorbets, sherbet, and ice cream may be the way to go.

First, Cooking with Whine posted some easy sherbet recipes last month that you can make without having to buy an ice cream maker. They’re so simple that the kids can help out. Becki also posted some wonderful ice cream recipes and recommends a Cuisinart ice cream maker. (I’m guessing it’s the Cuisinart 1 1/2 Quart Ice Cream Maker that goes for $47 at Amazon. The red model is $2 more.) Gosh, Becki, I’m really, really tempted….

Wondering about the seeds, maybe this recipe for a raspberry granita e-how.com would be better. Granita is an ice dessert similar to sorbet, but it has a more granular texture because you scrape it up yourself. This recipe makes about 2 cups.

Raspberry Granita

Ingredients:

1. 1/3 c. water
2. 1/2 c. sugar
3. 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
4. 1 1/2 c. fresh raspberries

Directions:

1. Heat the water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Avoid letting it come to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice.
3. Puree the raspberries and strain them into the sugar mixture. If they’re very soft, you can simply place them in the strainer and force them through.
4. Stir the mixture together and place in a shallow container.
5. Place the container in the freezer and freeze for several hours.
6. Stir with a fork as the mixture freezes, every 20 minutes or so, breaking up any frozen surfaces and crushing any lumps. This creates granita’s texture.
7. Serve when the granita is almost completely frozen and can be scraped up into a ball.

If you need more ideas, try ice-cream-recipes.com, the ultimate guide to ice cream maker recipes.

Finally some wonderful ice cream themed books to enjoy while you’re waiting for the sherbet or ice cream to freeze:

• Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop - Taken from one of the cartoons, and not written by the original author H.A. Ray, it’s still a wonderful story of Curious George getting into something he shouldn’t and everything turning out o.k. For preschoolers.
• From Cow to Ice Cream - For kindergarteners to second graders, this shows how ice cream is made, from raw materials to the finished product. This would be a wonderful book to use in conjunction with making your own ice cream at home.
• Ice Cream Cones For Sale!- After exploring how ice cream is made, learn about the invention of the ice cream cone with this entertaining book. For children in kindergarten through third grade, they’ll learn about the invention of the cone at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and some of the myths around it. The author’s notes adds extra information, and an impressive bibliography leads kids on to more facts.

(Raspberry picture courtesty of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station at the Univeristy of Minnesota. Raspberry sorbet picture courtesty of wikepedia.com.)

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