Acai Sorbet – 4 ingredients

What beats a vitamin-packed sweet treat that you don’t have to feel guilty about later? With its thick, ice-cream-like texture, and without having any dairy products or sugar added, an acai berry sorbet is your best bet for satiating your sweet tooth. It’s also a great way to get relief when the temperatures outdoors get high.

Below, you can find an easy acai sorbet recipe using only 4 simple ingredients!

What are Acai Berries?

Acai berries are small, reddish-purple berries (some people can also think they’re black-purple). They are grown on the acai palm — a plant native to South America. Acai berries look a lot like blueberries; they are an inch wide in circumference, and the seed takes up 80% of berry.

However, acai berries are not sweet like blueberries. They have an earthy yet slightly bitter taste. You could call it something similar to unsweetened/dark chocolate.

While the acai berry is granular in texture, it smoothes out when blended. The blended version is incredibly creamy and thick, which is why acai berries are a great ingredient for sorbets.

Acai Sorbet Recipe Ingredients

This super simple acai sorbet recipe uses only 4 ingredients:

• Frozen blueberries
• Acai powder
• Agave nectar (as a sweetener)
• Lime juice

Note: Acai powder is acai pulp with all the moisture removed. This means it is jam-packed with nutrients. Using the powder version also allows you to bypass the step of separating seeds and skip straight to the ready-to-use ingredient.

How to Make Acai Sorbet

Once you have the ingredients at hand, it is time to put them all together. You can prepare acai berry sorbet in 15 minutes or less, followed by a waiting period of 4 hours.

1. Toss all 4 ingredients into a food processor. A high-speed blender will work as well. Blend them all together for a minute or two (or until smooth).
2. Pour the blended mixture into a loaf pan and place it in the freezer. It is recommended to wait at least 4 hours. You may choose to freeze it overnight as well.
3. When ready, scoop out the acai berry sorbet with an ice cream scoop. For best results, serve it with a sprig of mint.

… and, enjoy!

Frequently Asked Questions

What does acai sorbet taste like?

Generally, you can expect your acai sorbet to be earthy and tangy (and somewhat chocolatey), with the caramel-like sweetness of agave nectar and acidic taste of lime juice. It will also have a hint of sweet and floral notes from the added blueberries. Despite being dairy-free, your acai sorbet will be smooth and creamy in texture — an ice-cream-like heaven is what we call it.

What flavor is acai?

Trying to capture acai’s taste in a word would be challenging. It has a distinctive flavor that is perceived differently by different people. For some, acai is a mixture of the slightly tart berry flavor and the taste of dark chocolate. Others say it has bitterness similar to coffee with undertones of earthy flavors. We would agree on calling it an earthy and bitter flavor with hints of dark chocolate — sometimes capturing the essence of blackberry.

How Healthy is Acai Sorbet?

Acai sorbet is an incredibly healthy (and vegan) alternative to traditional desserts. Acai powder and blueberries are packed with vitamins and antioxidants. So, your sorbet will have plenty of anthocyanins and polyphenols. Vitamins A, C, and E can also be found abundantly as well as dietary fiber. This acai sorbet recipe does not use dairy products, so it is low in saturated fat. Using mint as a topping means you can avail its benefits, too.

Why Eat Acai?

Eating acai comes with a multitude of health benefits you don’t want to miss on.

• The antioxidants in acai protect you from several diseases. They do so by fighting off free radicals in the body (which are actually produced by your cells but can eventually harm them).
• Acai berries are packed with nutrients; you can expect to get many beneficial elements from these small berries.
• Acai may regulate and improve the body’s cholesterol levels.
• Acai may help with inflammation, thus improving brain function.
• Several animal studies have shown that acai may help protect you from cancer.

Acai berry sorbet is a mouthwatering frozen treat to enjoy as breakfast or take as a post-dinner dessert. No matter when you enjoy it, the benefits of this treat will have you yearning for more.