Blackberry Sorbet

I've been off the grid on a Pacific Northwest getaway. (OK, semi-off the grid... I brought my iPhone.) Between a work trip to LA and a family visit to Colorado, I traded one Washington for the other. More precisely, Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle where I spent summers growing up. In true island fashion, my mom and I lived off the land (plus beer, wine, and baguettes from Central Market). We dug clams and geoduck from the beach, ate them steamed with butter and lemon, then tossed the empty shells from the deck back into the ocean. We slurped raw oysters grown by a neighbor. And of course, we picked ripe August blackberries.

I've been fantasizing about picking blackberries and making this sorbet all summer. Anyone who has ever had blackberries straight from the vine knows they taste nothing like the kind in the grocery store. They're bursting with juice like the orange roe you sometimes get on sushi, and they're so sweet they taste like they've been injected with powdered sugar.

First, let me set the scene. Here's the view we enjoyed every evening on Bainbridge Island.

Yours truly in blackberry picking garb.

The bounty.

Up close and personal.

Puree. You can use a blender. I just didn't have one.

Run it through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Simple syrup.

It looks like gooey red velvet cake fresh from the ice cream maker.

Stunning.

Recipe:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
4 cups blackberries

Combine the sugar and water in a small pot and heat until sugar is dissolved. This is your simple syrup. Put it in the fridge to cool. Add the blackberries to a blender and puree until smooth. Pour the blackberry puree through a sieve to remove the seeds. Add the simple syrup to the blackberry puree and mix thoroughly. Pour into ice cream maker and churn.