Pindo Palm Puree

Wash the fruit in lots of water.
Swish about to make sure no ants or other creepy crawlies end up in your dessert!
Drain.
Cut fruit from seeds, place in a pan and cover with water.
Bring to the boil and simmer until fruit is soft (15-20 mins).
Blend or process until smooth.
Push though a sieve with a wooden spoon (a cup or two at a time) to remove the fiber.

Simple Syrup

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water

Heat until sugar is dissolved. That's it!
I like to make a big jar of it and keep it in the fridge to have on hand for lemonade or for spontaneous sorbet making sessions! I tend to use white/cane sugar or half white and half soft brown as brown sugar can cause the bright colors of some fruits to become dull.

Pindo Palm Sorbet

The Butia Capitata Palm – also know as the Pindo or Jelly Palm - grows all over Gainesville. It bears several large bracts of fruit which produce 3-5 lbs of fruit each. Refreshingly tart and sweet all at the same time - the Pindo Palm fruit tastes of pineapple and apricot in equal measures with a citrusy 'finish.' The flesh is a bit fibrous which means you have spit out the fiber after you’ve chewed the fruit, but is excellent for baking – for making jelly, fruit curds and pies! It makes an incredible, tropical tasting sorbet.

Here are my top 3 favorite Pindo Palm Sorbet Recipes of this (my first) Season!

Pindo Palm Sorbet # 1
This is the one that tastes most strongly of the pindo palm fruit

2 cups cooked and strained Pindo palm puree/juice
1/2 cup sour orange or lemon juice
2 cups simple syrup (or more to taste)

Pindo Palm Sorbet # 2
This is more generally tropical tasting

2 cups cooked and strained Pindo palm puree/juice
1 cup chopped fresh pineapple **
1 cup chopped fresh mango
1/2 cup sour orange or lemon juice
3 cups simple syrup (or more to taste)

Pindo Palm Sorbet # 3
This one has a more dominant mango flavor

2 cups cooked and strained Pindo palm puree/juice
2 cups chopped fresh mango (or the best canned mango pulp *)
1/2 cup sour orange or lemon juice
3 cups simple syrup (or more to taste)

Blend and freeze!

* Indian stores have the best mango pulp in tins. My local Indian store has Alfonso pulp in big tins. Alfonsos are the King of mangos and the fruit is startlingly intense in both color and flavor.

** The pineapple we used was one we grew ourselves. The miracle of pineapples is that you pop the cut off top of a pineapple into the ground and hey presto! a couple of years later it grows into a whole new pineapple! Amazing!!