With a bright tart unique citrus flavor, Yuzu Sorbet makes a irresistibly tasty dessert that refreshes the palate.
Have you had tasted yuzu (柚子) before? This citrus fruit tastes like a combination of lemon, mandarin orange, and grapefruit. Yuzu juice and peel are used in Japanese cuisine especially in fall/winter when it’s in season.
Having fresh yuzu in the kitchen really excites me not only because they are rare fruits outside of Japan, but the amazing fragrance and flavor of yuzu in the air awaken my senses. If you have the chance and come across fresh yuzu, you must make this Yuzu Sorbet (柚子のシャーベット).
Watch How To Make Yuzu Sorbet
Refreshing and delightful sorbet to refresh your palate, super easy to make and irresistibly tasty with a citrusy-floral essence of yuzu fruit.
Every year during yuzu season, I buy one or two yuzu fruits to enjoy. They are quite expensive at the local Japanese supermarkets and to be honest, they are hard to find elsewhere. Some readers told me that farmers’ market in their local area sometimes sell them. So if you do see fresh yuzu, you know you’ve just found yourself gold as they are hard to find.
Fresh Fruit for Yuzu Sorbet
This year, Santa came early for me. My friends have two yuzu trees that started to produce fruits this year and I was so fortunate to pick my own fresh yuzu fruits off from their trees.
Unlike lemon or lime, each yuzu produces a very little amount of juice as they have these gigantic seeds inside those small fruits. So even though I had 40 yuzu to use in total, the amount of juice extracted was not much. I made yuzu sorbet and marmalade and stored the rest of the juice/peel in the freezer.
Super Easy Yuzu Sorbet Recipe
This yuzu sorbet is very, VERY easy to make with or without an ice cream maker. I started with an ice cream maker but had to stop the churning early as I had to leave the kitchen (one of those “multi-tasking” leading to failed project incidents) and the sorbet was still too loose. So I finished off making the sorbet with the manual method.
This no-ice-cream-machine method doesn’t require much effort. You just need to stir the sorbet every 30-60 minutes while it’s in the freezer until it’s done. I recommend making the sorbet after dinner so you can set a timer for every 30-60 minutes and stir the sorbet while you are watching your TV shows or relaxing.
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Yuzu Sorbet
Video
Ingredients
- 6 yuzu
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Make simple syrup first. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water over medium heat. Whisk the mixture until all the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Clean the yuzu thoroughly. For 2 yuzu, zest the entire yuzu fruits into a small bowl using a microplane or grater. Be sure to zest only the thin outer peel or colored portion (do not zest bitter white part). Then cut the fruits crosswise in half for juicing (Step 4).
- For the other 4 yuzu, cut off the top ¼ of the yuzu to make a cup and lid.
- Squeeze juice out of all the yuzu (4 yuzu cups from Step 3 and 2 yuzu from Step 2). Strain the juice into the small bowl, making sure to separate the seeds. You should have about ¼ cup of juice and zest.
- Hollow out 4 yuzu cup with a spoon. Be careful not to tear the yuzu cups when you are removing the seeds and flesh.
- Add the yuzu zest and yuzu juice into the simple syrup and combine well. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the mixture cool in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. I put the saucepan in the refrigerator directly, but it takes more time to cool as the saucepan is still a bit warm.
With Ice Cream Maker:
- Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and churn for 20-25 minutes until frozen.
- Transfer to a shallow container and smooth out the surface. Stuff the yuzu sorbet in the 4 yuzu cups and put the lid on. Place the yuzu cups tightly in a container so they won’t fall. Store the yuzu sorbet and yuzu cups in the freezer. If the yuzu sorbet is still watery after you finished churning, you can continue with no-ice-cream-maker method below.
Without Ice Cream Maker:
- Pour the mixture into a container (preferably metal), cover, and place the mixture in the freezer . Stir with a fork every 30-60 minutes to get rid of any large ice lumps until the sorbet becomes smooth and frozen throughout, about 2-3 hours.
I have never heard of yuzu fruit. They do look just like a lemon. What a shame there is so little juice in them! I think your presentation is just gorgeous and after a big meal, what a gorgeous and elegant and light and refreshing dessert – perfect down under for our hot weather! xx
I hope to taste real yuzu one day but in the meantime I can only salivate at pictures of your yuzu marmalade, sorbet and cocktails.
I love Yuzu!! It is soooo good. I wish I could find a tree to plant, but no such luck yet. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for your comment Laura! Yeah I truely wish to have a Yuzu tree but it is probably too cold here. I’m so glad you like yuzu too! It tastes amazing and this sorbet has unforgettable taste! 🙂
I will put this on my recipe list- I can imagine how fragrant and uplifting the sorbet would be! Have you had a chance to try a Yuzu onsen when visiting in Japan? That is an incredible experience- that is my kind of aromatherapy 😉 Have a great day.
I haven’t been back in winter time for a while (maybe several years) but yes I enjoy taking a bath with yuzu skin in it (I assume that’s what you’re referring – maybe in your case, it’s hot spring water with yuzu skin… nice!!!). Ah… so relaxing. I miss Japanese ofuro. 😀
I have never bought fresh yuzu and it sounds perfect for a sorbet! This is so refreshing and with all the heavy meals we’re eating now around the holidays, something like this to cut through it all is just what we need. Looks really pretty presented in the yuzu shells.
Omg! Would love to try this! 🙂 Looks delicious and really cute!
Yuzu is new to me — never had it, nor heard of it. Sounds really interesting! And it looks gorgeous. But I’m a lemon freak, so anything that looks like lemon appeals to me. Gorgeous pictures, terrific recipe — thanks.
This looks super refreshing and I love the way you serve it!
This is really fresh fruit, you were lucky to have it!!! And you are right, the seeds are really BIG
What an incredible dessert.. Never had Yuzu – sounds delicious
My friends often eat Yuzu but I have yet to taste it – I reckon trying it in your delicious sorbet mode would work well 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
This sorbet looks absolutely perfect!!
Exquisite and refreshingly citrusy!
Cheers,
Rosa
That is very creative using the fruit shell as a cup for the sorbet. I’ve never seen this citrus fruit before and I should watch out for it so I could make your sorbet.
Ah! So THAT’S what Yuzu is. I always see that word floating around somewhere and for some reason I just assumed it was some sauce–maybe because of ponzu? Haha. It does sound delicious and refreshing~grapefruit and lemon are my favorite citrus fruits so I’m extremely intrigued by it. Oh! I live 5 minutes from one of the largest “Japanese” areas in LA aside from Little Tokyo so I’ll be on the lookout. I even have a Mitsuwa 5 minutes away but every time I walk in I’m kinda broke! lol. Anyway, sorry for the long comment but I always get excited when I “talk” to you but that’s probably a good thing. 😉
Definitely looks good and refreshing, perfect for our weather here
So interesting about the yuzu, they look like smallish Meyer lemons. I’m on the look out for them now…would love to try it. Your yuzu sorbet is gorgeous, Nami. The way you used the yuzu as a dish couldn’t be any more cuter. 🙂 Thanks for introducing me to a new fruit!
It’s true – so simple and easy to make! Thanks for the nice video, Nami! I hope yuzu becomes more visible outside Japan 🙂
Julie & Alesah
Gourmet Getaways xx
This sorbet looks perfect, even in this horrible weather I am having here. Wonderful recipe
look at that sorbet! Look at that color and it looks and sounds so refreshing and delicious.
Absolutely gorgeous, Nami! Citrus sorbets are so refreshing!
I’ve never tried Yuzu before… I like the recipe, so easy to make.
Wow! So, so simple yet I can imagine delicious explosion of flavor. I never tried yuzu, and will look closely to see if we have it here. One more winning recipe!
I have bottled yuzu juice but never have I seen a fresh one, I hope to one day to try this delicious sorbet, love the presentation.
Not only have I not tried Yuzu, I’ve never heard of it! They look exactly like Meyer lemons and I could see someone being very surprised when they cut one open and find those huge seeds! The sorbet looks amazing. I love a sweet, light dessert like this after an indulgent holiday meal. So pretty too!
How lucky you are! Here it’s absolutely impossible to find. Every year I bring back several fruits from Japan and it always saddens me to see the end of the beautiful treasures… I cannot even imagine how fantastic this sorbet must be. I love sorbets (I am not a fan of ice-cream, apart from dark chocolate) so I’m sure I’d love it.
Hi Naomi, May i know 1 cup of water in this recipe is only 120ml? Thanks.
Ahhh! Thanks so much for noticing! It’s a TYPO (and video too as we “cut and paste” text. I cup is 240 ml (precisely 236 ml), so 2 cups is 480 ml.
Thank you so much for letting me know. Updated…
DEFINITELY trying this. I can’t wait for yuzu to be affordable again! One of the hardest parts about moving to Japan from California has been getting used to how expensive off-season produce is 🙂
i wish i read this article about 2 months ago, when summer so hot in Indonesia. But still i like it.
Haha! I know, but unfortunately Yuzu is ONLY available in short winter months! It’s now in season!
If Yuzu is not available, what would be the next best substitution?
Any citrus would be great! You need to adjust the amount of sugar though. Yuzu has slightest sweetness to it compared to lemon. 🙂
FYI – There was a Japanese farm selling Japanese fruits and vegetables, including yuzu, at the California Ave farmer’s market in Palo Alto. Yuzu was $2.
Hi Hmucha! Thank you so much for sharing this info! I feel like more and more farmers market sell yuzu these days. So happy! Hopefully yuzu will be easy to find like lemons in the near future. 😀
Can what if I can’t find Yuzu? Can I make it with yuzu tea found in korean markets? If so how will the method change?
Hi Lisa! You can do that if you don’t use the yuzu casing. Not sure about the amount of sugar though – I don’t know how much it should be reduced….
Nami-san, where do you get your yuzu? Do they carry it at Nijiya in SF? Have you been to Tokyo Fish Market or Berkeley Bowl?? This looks amazing
Hi Yosh! They will carry it in December/January/Feb. I live in the Peninsula, so I go to Nijiya in San Mateo and haven’t shopped in the East Bay for years… 🙂
Nice!! Thank you!!
I’m coming off a weekend full of yuzu recipes – yuzu marmalade on Saturday night, yuzu ice cream on Sunday night and this finally the sorbet tonight. And wow, this turned out really well! My yuzu are huge (5-6 ounces each) so I only used 3 fruit in the recipe – 1 to zest and 2 for cups. The total amount of sorbet I got was more than enough to fill 5 or 6 of the fruit but the flavor was right on!
Hi Brandon! I’m so jealous of your yuzu weekend!! I would love to eat yuzu dessert every day, every week… So nice to have huge yuzu to play with. 🙂
yuzu in america is illegal and we aren’t allowed to import it here :((( sounds great though!
Hi Anna!
Yes, we are not allowed to import Yuzu, but you can purchase Yuzu or Yuzu tree here in the US.🙂
I just wanted to let you know that I found yuzu at Whole Foods!
Hi Amy!
Yay! Thank you very much for your input.😊