Here’s a fun post: a delicious recipe for loquat sorbet made with a splash of tequila and sprinkled with Hawaiian black lava salt.
The loquats came from a tree in our backyard. We started it from the seed of a tree down the street and it’s taken off. According to the Specialty Produce App, loquats grow well in most Southern states, but usually only fruit in California, Florida and Hawaii.
This post is a family collaboration! Papa Bird (our sorbet master) came up with the recipe and shot the “making of” photos. The child labor came from the (not so) Baby Birds.
Kids Cooking in the Garden
The girls have been honing their kitchen skills with their new knife set. They love the safety knives from Playful Chef (Amazon link) which are designed to cut through apples and carrots, but safely fit in young hands. They use them almost daily.
The kids also harvested the loquats from the tree, selecting the ripest, softest and sweetest fruit.
My kids enjoy cooking, especially sweet treats. And they LOVE making and eating anything from our garden.
How to Make Loquat Sorbet
Loquats are from the same family as apples, pears and roses. The fruit have a mild, sweet, slightly sour and refreshing flavor.
They grow rampant in Southern California. So check your neighborhood and forage! If you or a friend have a tree, you likely have more fruit than you can deal with. And sadly, there are not very many loquat recipes out there. Select fruit that are a little soft and pull off easily from the branch.
Next, Papa Bird set up an assembly line for the girls outside. The fruit can be juicy and sticky.
The kids cut the fruit in half. Loquats contain 3-7 large, hard, inedible seeds in the middle.
Remove the seeds. The fruit are now ready to run through a juicer.
Preparing the loquat sorbet
This sorbet came out delicious!
To make 2 cups of juice, Papa Bird used approximately 60 halved, seeded loquats. We have a Breville compact juicer, which quickly separated the juice from the skin and less edible parts.
Read the printable recipe below.
But first, more about loquats! I read in the app that loquats are used to decorate Day of the Dead altars. And the Chinese make an expectorant cough syrup with loquats that I’ve bought at Asian markets and from Amazon.
- 2 c loquat juice (from approximately 60 loquats)
- 1¼ c water
- ¾ c sugar
- ¼ c brown sugar
- 1 oz tequila
- (as garnish) Hawaiian black lava salt
- Pick approximately 60 ripe loquats. Cut them in half and remove the seeds. Juice them in a Breville juicer or similar. Run the juice once more through a fine sieve for an extra smooth sorbet. Once you have 2 cups of juice, set aside.
- Warm the water, sugar and brown sugar in a sauce pan until the sugar melts. You can add or subtract sugar depending on the sweetness of your fruit and personal preference. Once the sugar melts, remove from heat, let cool and add to the juice.
- Add the tequila to the juice and syrup mixture and follow the instructions of your ice cream/sorbet maker.
- (Optional) Serve garnished with Hawaiian black lava salt.
Want to save this recipe? Pin to Pinterest please!
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