Sorbet

Sorbet is where an ice cream maker earns its keep in late summer. It is dairy-free, so the fruit carries everything, and that means it demands your very best fruit: dead-ripe peaches, a glut of raspberries, Meyer lemons. Sugar does more than sweeten here. It keeps the water from freezing into hard crystals, and too little leaves you with more ice than sorbet. A spoonful of vodka or fruit liqueur keeps it scoopable for longer, because alcohol freezes more slowly than water. Store-bought sorbet rarely tastes this much of the fruit.