Lemon and Rosemary Sorbet

I think I may have mentioned before that there was once a time, when the needle like herb known as rosemary would be ignored by myself in culinary challenges.  It was one of those herbs that hardly featured in any o f my home cooking.  Of course, this has all changed.  I now view rosemary as a wonderful woody herb with a heady fragrance.  I can't get enough of the stuff, not only do I use it in savoury dishes, popcorn, in hot 'fruity' drinks, but puddings and sweet bakes too.  As my regular readers will know, to great success I recently used it in my Rhubarb and Rosemary Scones.  I will only ever use it in its fresh form though, dry...well its just a twig.   But even when fresh, you have to be careful, too much and yes it could be medicinal. 

I don't make sorbets much, the truth is sorbet for me is just an adults slush puppy and ice cold zingy lemon does not always appeal to me, but my husband loves the stuff so its for him I oblige, even when it is raining and ice cold outside. 

This Lemon and Rosemary Sorbet is also my first entry for Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream which was started by Kavey.

Lemon and Rosemary Sorbet
You will need a food processor for this recipe.
Ingredients
Juice and zest of 5 unwaxed lemons
300g sugar
1 3/4 pints of water
Sprig of fresh rosemary
Method
Gently bring everything to a boil, stirring frequently until all the sugar has melted. Simmer for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat and leave it to cool. when cool, strain and discard the zest and rosemary sprig.
When cool enough, pour into a suitable plastic container and freeze. Freeze, then after an hour take out of freezer and blend in food processor, pour back into container and freeze for another hour or so, then remove from freeze and blend again. This is to ensure that there are no mass of ice, but soft crystals. Then freeze. Twice should be enough, but you may want to do it a third time if you want softer crystals.