blackberry-lime-gin sorbet

This is the ultimate summer sorbet - intense and fruity, but extremely refreshing.

1 gallon fresh, ripe blackberries (that's an ice-cream pail full)
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
3 limes
2 shots gin

Make a syrup with the sugar, water, and zest and juice from the limes (ie, put it all in a pot and bring to a boil so the sugar dissolves.) Let cool.

Smoosh the blackberries (a food mill is easiest) then pass the resulting mess through a seive or chinoise to strain out the seeds, into a large bowl. Pour the syrup through the seive, over the remaining blackberry goo, into the same bowl, to extract a little more flavour and get rid of the zest bitties.

Add gin directly to the juice.

Chill in fridge for 4-6 hours, then pour into an ice-cream maker. Once the ice cream maker has done its thing, the sorbet will need to set in the freezer for another few hours.

This makes 2 litres of sorbet, so if you have only a 1-litre ice-cream maker, you'll need to do 2 batches or cut everything in half.

The sorbet tends to be a bit soft if your berries are really ripe, so I would recommend placing it in your deep freeze to set it or turning your freezer down as low as it can go.