Sicilian Sorbet

A three-ingredient water ice that depends entirely on how it is frozen. The original assumes a hand-crank freezer packed with ice and salt, which keeps the mixture moving the whole time it sets.

• Churn or scrapeLeft still in a modern freezer this sets into a solid block. Either run it in an ice cream maker until it holds soft peaks, or freeze in a shallow metal pan and rake it with a fork every 30 minutes for about three hours for a granita texture.
• The can of peachesNo size is given. A modern 15-16 oz can of peaches in syrup, drained weight around 9 oz, works well here, though cans of the period were often larger. Sieve the fruit and include a few spoons of the syrup if the puree is stiff.
• Sugar and freezing pointRoughly one cup of sugar to three cups of liquid is a common sorbet proportion, and the sugar is what keeps the ice soft enough to scoop. Cutting it much below that will give a noticeably harder block. If the peaches are canned in heavy syrup, reduce the sugar to three-quarters of a cup.
• Dissolve firstStir the sugar into the juices until no grains remain before the mixture goes near the cold, otherwise it settles out and freezes gritty at the bottom.
• SievingA food processor or blender will do most of the pressing, but pass the puree through a sieve afterward as the recipe directs, for a smoother frozen texture.
• Orange juiceFresh juice is worth the trouble here, as there is nothing else in the dish to hide behind. The lemon juice is not optional seasoning but the acid that keeps the whole thing from tasting flat and syrupy.
• Yield and servingAbout a quart, serving six. Serve straight from the churn if you can; if it has been hard-frozen, let it stand 10 minutes and break it up before spooning out.