I’ve always wanted to make a sorbet with a delicate fruit like kiwifruit. Fruits with subtle flavors usually aren’t appropriate for soloing in sorbets, so I thought pairing kiwis with limes might be a nice idea (apparently others do, too). Lime by itself would probably be too tart, so this seemed like a good way to make a lime flavored sorbet.

I opted to combine flavor extracted from lime rind with some of the fresh juice so I could get plenty of lime flavor and a little fresh zing from the juice. Finally, a little limoncello added to the mix and the resulting texture was wonderful without any hint of iciness.

At first I thought the lime flavor was a little strong, but it mellowed out after a few days. The kiwi flavor is subtle, and the lime does a good job at keeping things interesting. This sorbet recipe is fresh, unique, and goes well with spicy foods.

Ingredients for making Kiwi Lime Sorbet.

Grate the rind from about 4 limes to yield about a tablespoon of zest.

Gently boil 3/4 cups of sugar in 1/2 cup of water with the lime zest for about 10 minutes.

Peel about 10 to 12 kiwis, removing white core if desired.

Juice 2 of the limes. A little juice goes a long way with the mild kiwis.

Pour the juice into blender with peeled kiwis and reduced sugar/zest water.

Purée mixture just until smooth. The delicate kiwi seeds will start to break down if you over blend.

Use a chinois or sieve to remove the seeds from the kiwi purée.

Add 1/4 cup of Limoncello to the sorbet base and stir until blended.

Chill sorbet base in an ice bath until less than 45° F.

Pour chilled base into ice cream maker and freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

Transfer finished sorbet to an odor-free container to ripen in the freezer for several hours.

The recipe pictured above, with detailed instructions and photo gallery can be found on the Kiwi Lime Sorbet recipe page.