To be quite honest, I had never heard of blood oranges until around a year ago when I first started blogging. I saw a few blood orange margaritas on some blogs, noticed their color and thought they looked pretty, but didn’t think much about it. This year, however, I have seen more and more recipes using blood oranges, which made me intrigued and I knew I had to find them and make something.
Besides the color, I didn’t know if a blood orange was different than any ordinary orange. So I did a little reading and learned a few facts. As for taste, they have a slight hint of raspberry to them. Flavor can vary in blood oranges, but typically they are quite sweet in proportion to their citrus tartness. Also, because of their deep pigment, they are high in antioxidants.
From all the recipes I had seen, I knew I wanted to try a sorbet. I also wanted to bring out the raspberry flavor, so I added a small amount. The raspberry complimented the orange flavor nicely, without taking away the sweet and tart taste of the blood orange. The flavor of the end result was a perfect combination.
In addition to the taste, I was very happy with the consistency and color of the sorbet. The orange liquor I added helped it from becoming too icy, as many sorbets have a tendency of doing. The color was absolutely gorgeous and was all from the oranges, the raspberries did not change it whatsoever.
I realize that citrus season is coming to a close, but I made this recipe a while ago and still wanted to share it with all of you. If there happen to be any blood oranges lingering in the supermarket, snatch them up! Otherwise, be sure to bookmark this recipe for next year. {You could also make it with regular oranges, but the result won’t be nearly as pretty…}
Blood Orange Sorbet
2 cups blood orange juice {9 to 10 oranges}
1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon, separated*
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup raspberries
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 1/2 tablespoons orange liquor
Create a simple syrup by bringing 1/2 cup sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool.
Measure the raspberries and combine with 1 tablespoon sugar and juice of 1 lemon in a separate bowl. Let the raspberries macerate for some time and begin to break down. If you want to hurry this process along, put the mixture into the microwave for a few seconds. Once the raspberries have macerated, add about 1/4 cup of the blood orange juice and blend together until there is a uniform mixture.
Combine the cooled simple syrup, raspberry mixture, remaining blood orange juice and orange zest. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until cool.
Freeze in a ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Add the orange liquor the last two minutes of churning.
*Because the sweetness of the oranges varies, adjust the amount of sugar needed depending on the flavor.
