Sweet Science - Dragon Fruit Lemonade Sorbet

 

The third and final Valentine's Day flavor from the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science Ice Cream is a sorbet.  This is called Dragon Fruit Lemonade Sorbet (instagram link here).  I have not had a dragon fruit flavored pint before.  This should be interesting.  It is always fun to add a new label to the blog sidebar on the right.

Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya, is the fruit of a cactus which is indigenous to tropical areas of the Americas, but it is now cultivated around the world.  It has been called 'dragon fruit' since at least the 1960s because of it's bright red leathery skin which has scales.  The fruit has a bright reddish purple color with crunchy black seeds.  It was not a common fruit growing up in Minnesota (it is still not common among people I know here) but I found quite a few recipes online which include dragon fruit.  Some examples of those are here and here.

OK, on to the sorbet!  Removing the lid, the color is extremely striking.  On their instagram page (link above), Sweet Science says this might be the most visually arresting flavor they've ever created.  It might be the brightest color I have seen in an ice cream as well.  It looks like the color of a pink highlighter.  Embedded within the sorbet are the seeds.  These are black in color and look like the same shape as sesame seeds but they are much smaller.  They are a bit like kiwifruit seeds.  Digging in, it has a refreshing sweet tropical flavor.  It is delicious!  It is hard to describe the flavor specifically because this is a new fruit from me.  I guess I would say that it not as strong of a flavor as a berry but stronger than a melon.  Kiwifruit is another decent comparison I guess, but this flavor is stronger than kiwifruit.  The lemonade I notice just a bit on the finish.  I think it is there to balance the flavor a bit.  It is a good blend.  This flavor is a sorbet so it has a churned-ice texture by design.  That said, the churning is very well done and it is very easy to scoop.  I do notice the seeds when I am eating.  They provide a little bit of small crunchiness, but I do not notice that the seeds have any flavor by themselves.

This is a very fun new tropical fruit sorbet from Sweet Science.  I do not know when dragon fruit are in season, but this feels like a summery flavor.  It's only March though, but we Minnesotans often like to pretend that it is warmer outside than it really is.  Check it out.