Easy Homemade Mixed Berry Sherbet is a sweet, tangy, and delicious ending to any meal. This simple fruit sherbet, made with a combination of frozen berries including strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, is light and refreshing and just the thing to help you cool off on a hot summer evening.
Combine the frozen berries, granulated sugar, and Karo syrup in a large bowl and mix well. Allow this mixture to sit for about 30 minutes, and stir occasionally. At this point, the berries will still be partially frozen.
Place the mixture in the bowl of your food processor fitted with a steel blade and process it until it is smooth and the berries are pureed. This should only take a minute or so.
Add the berry puree, buttermilk, and lemon juice to a large bowl. Stir until everything is combined.
Add the mixture to your ice cream maker's freezer bowl and follow the manufacturer's directions. The sherbet will take about 20 minutes to firm up.
Transfer the sherbet to a storage container and allow it to harden in the freezer for about four hours. Before serving, take it out of the freezer and let it sit out for five to ten minutes to soften before serving.
Notes
Blackberrys and raspberries have tiny seeds. I don't strain my berry puree, but if you want your sherbet to be seedless, you will have to pour it through a fine wire strainer before mixing it with the buttermilk and lemon juice.
This recipe fits perfectly in a two-quart ice cream freezer bowl.
To make this sherbet without an electric ice cream maker, follow the recipe, and place the mixture in a freezer in a freezer-safe-covered container for eight hours. After eight hours, use a fork to break the frozen mixture into small chunks and place them in a bowl. Then, use an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until the pieces have smoothed out. Return the mixture to the freezer, cover, and freeze for three hours or until firm.
You can substitute fresh berries for frozen in this recipe. However, after pureeing the berries and mixing them with the buttermilk and lemon juice, you will need to place this mixture in the refrigerator for an hour so that the mixture will be properly chilled before adding it to your ice cream maker.
Mixed berry sherbet should be stored in an air-tight container in the freezer. It should be eaten within three months for the best taste and texture.
If you don't have a food processor, you can use a blender to puree the berries.