Papaya lime-yuzu sorbet

This is now the second sorbet venture for Yokosuka Food Corner. Enough to start a series some would say. Maybe even throw in the word "aficionado" into the title. Aficionado Sorbet Series - hmmm.  Something just not right about that...I'm going sit on that for a while and think about it some more.

This papaya lime-yuzu sorbet is excellent. And similar to the mikan-yuzu sorbet, does not require an ice cream maker.  As with all my recipes I test them thoroughly and stand behind them. Yes, even the tuna head cooking at home, which was admittedly a one-time venture, turned out well. So do feel confident about the recipes at YFC. They all have some connection to Japan, either through ingredients or through techniques that I've learned from chefs here in Japan.

Papaya is a great fruit from which to make a sorbet. There is no juicer or squeezing involved. The pulp is easy to work with and leads to a naturally creamy texture.  I picked up some papayas from AVE Supermarket here in Yokosuka, Japan. I noticed they were from the Philippines. At 180 Yen each I thought they were a pretty good deal for buying them in March.

In an interesting connection, Dole Philippines was sold to the Japanese trading firm Itochu in late 2012. Papayas are an important crop to the Philippines due to its economic potential. 95% of the Philippine papaya export goes to two countries: Japan (66%) and Hong Kong (29%). In terms of value though, Japan is 90% of the export market.
The variety grown by large companies such as Dole is the "Solo" variety. The Solo variety is a high quality fruit and named such because it is just the right amount for one person. The papaya I bought were very good and I had a hard time not eating more of them before they went into the blender. It is also high in vitamins A and C.

Once I started reading about papayas from the Philippines coming to Japan one thing led to another and I set off on a mini research project. Many years ago Japan stopped all fruit shipments from the Philippines due to some fruit flies that managed to escape interdiction. Japan strengthened its laws and now requires all fruit to undergo a Vapor Heat Treatment (VHT) process. VHT is a very safe non-chemical pest control measure where they heat the fruit up to an internal temperature of 47C (116 F) by using heated vapor. The vapor humidity is high such that it doesn't dry out the fruit. Once the process meets the time requirement the fruit is rapidly cooled and then packaged for shipment.

To the recipe:

Ingredients

- 3 papayas
- 3/4 cup sugar
- zest of one lime
- juice of one lime
- half banana (optional)
- 1 tbsp yuzu juice (optional)
- 1 to 2 tbsp Cointreau
- One cup water
- plain gelatin mix *(discussed further below)

zest the lime

Start by zesting the lime and scooping out the papaya (if you haven't done it yet, cut the fruit in half and take the seeds out).

Place the papaya meat, lime zest, banana, yuzu juice, lime juice, and Cointreau all into the food processor. Blend until smooth.

The yuzu is optional but adds so much flavor. The supermarkets sell small bottles of the goodness. Yuzu in hiragana is ゆず　and is a good word to learn if you're a foodie in Japan. You can see ゆず on the small bottle above. Once and while you'll see the kanji for it too - 柚子

The Cointreau is also optional. Many recipes online for papaya sorbet call for adding orange juice. Well this is a great replacement and even better in my opinion. Cointreau is an orange liqueur made in France. It is one of the secret ingredients that I learned from Chef Suzuki-san at arguably one of the best yakitori restaurants in the Kanto plain - Maido.

add to the food processor and blend

Blend until smooth

 In a pan, heat 1/2 cup water and sugar until dissolved. Add the jello*. It should be heated to near boiling to adequately break down the jello molecules.
Once everything is dissolved remove the pan from the heat and add the other 1/2 cup of water to cool the mixture down a bit.
* I use a Japanese product called Jellice and only use one 5g packet. The box is on the lower right side of the photo above. You can use plain "Jello" brand jello as well, but the amount is probably less than a normal pack. Since we are not making jello, there is no need to use an entire package. You just want to make the sorbet smoother.

water, sugar and jello mixture

Add the water, sugar, jello mixture to the papaya mixture and blend again until well mixed.

Pour into some suitable containers and place them into the freezer.

If you're making this in the morning, you can stir the mixture every hour or so as it cools so that you aerate it.

If you make this before bed, then the next morning you will have a solid block of frozen papaya sorbet and will not be able to scoop it out very easily. Proceed on to the next step.

after freezing

If you have a frozen block you'll need to convert it to something more easily scoop-able. Do this by cutting it up as shown below and then adding it back to the food processor. This will add some air. Put it back into your container and compact it slightly.  This is the little trick that the Maido chef does when he makes his sorbet.

Slice it up and then back into the food processor

This is how you make it without the ice cream machine. Enjoy. It turned out really good and I will be making this again very soon.