Let’s talk ice cream. More specifically, let’s talk different kinds of ice cream. I love all kinds of ice cream, and you won’t catch me turning down a frosty bowl of deliciousness on a warm summer day! (If you forced me to pick, I would have to say a classic custard-style ice cream is my favorite, though.)
A quick word about “ice cream.” In order to be called ice cream in the U.S., products must have at least 10% milkfat and 20% milk solids. (If you look closely, many store-bought ice creams are actually labeled “frozen dairy desserts.”) For the purposes of today’s post, I’m lumping everything into the category of ice cream – even though not all of these are ice cream by U.S. guidelines.
Ice creams with a custard base (or French-style) include a high percentage of cooked egg yolks combined with cream and flavorings. Custard base ice creams are extra creamy…and extra delicious! They do take a bit of extra work since you have to cook the custard base first, but the time spent is well worth it! A good example of a custard base ice cream recipe is this .
Philadelphia style ice creams don’t include eggs which makes this style a good place to start if you’ve never made homemade ice cream before. Since Philadelphia style ice creams only call for milk, cream and sugar (plus any flavorings you might want), they are much easier to make.
Frozen Yogurt (or FroYo) starts with yogurt as the base. While frozen yogurts don’t call for a custard base, they do often still include cream or milk. One of the more popular recipes here on this blog (especially during the summer months) is this .
Sorbets are typically made with juice, water and sugar. As such, sorbets are often dairy-free…which means they can’t really be called ice cream at all. But, again, for the purposes of this post, we’ll leave sorbets in the list. This is an awesome recipe that makes regular appearances in our house during the summer!
Gelato is often called Italian ice cream, and it’s truly delicious. If you’ve ever traveled to Italy, you certainly know about all of the gelato shops with amazing flavor combinations in every color imaginable. Gelato is typically only made with milk and no cream, so it has a lower milkfat percentage than American ice creams.
And we wrap up our tour of ice cream styles with sherbet. Sherbet is similar to sorbet, but it also includes a bit of milkfat, too. Thus, it is a blend of Philadelphia style ice cream and sorbet. I love a good container of rainbow sherbet!
Ok, now that we’ve walked through 6 very different styles of ice cream, let’s dig in a bit with this Homemade Strawberry Sherbet. In true sherbet fashion, this recipe calls for a blend of juice, sugar and milkfat.
Strawberry juice isn’t very common, so I opted to make my own at home – it’s super easy! I chopped up 1 cup of fresh berries and mixed them with sugar. After they rested for ~10 minutes, I used a mini-chopper to blend them into a liquid. From there, I added a bit of buttermilk and half-and-half. *done* (Well, I added a splash of lemon juice to balance the sweetness of the strawberries along with a tiny bit of vanilla extract for flavor.)
I suspect frozen strawberries could work in this strawberry dessert recipe, but you’d want to make sure they are fully thawed first.
This Homemade Strawberry Sherbet recipe is super easy! The most important thing is making sure the liquid mixture is super cold before adding it to the ice cream maker. (And if you don’t have an ice cream maker, get one – for 15+ years and it’s still going strong!) If the liquid isn’t super cold, then your sherbet could have ice crystals in it. The texture wouldn’t be as creamy and delicious with those ice crystals.
If you’re looking for a delicious dessert recipe, then put this Homemade Strawberry Sherbet on the list. It tastes especially awesome when sitting on the back deck on a warm summer evenings! Cheers!
Made with fresh strawberries, a bowl of this Homemade Strawberry Sherbet is delightful on a warm summer day!
5 from 3 votes
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
Refrigeration Time: 8 hours hours
Total Time: 8 hours hours 45 minutes minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 154 kcal
1 cup fresh strawberries hulled and chopped ⅔ cup granulated sugar ¾ cup buttermilk ¾ cup half-and-half 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 1 tsp vanilla extract
