A light touch of citrus to sweeten a winter day

This stuff is super! Light, refreshing, bright, delicate, and delicious. In the dark dog days of winter, we can all use a bit of brightness—this super tasty sorbet serves up a little bit of metaphorical culinary sunshine!

If you aren’t familiar with the satsuma, it’s a variety of Chinese mandarin that came to the U.S. via Japan. Its original Chinese name means “honey citrus of Wenzhou,” a fitting description of its gently sweet flavor. “Satsuma” is a more modern name, taken from a former province of Japan (now Kagoshima Prefecture) on Kyushu Island. The region holds significance in what I wrote about 20th-century art critic and philosopher Soetsu Yanagi’s The Beauty of Everyday Things and his passion for mingei—the beauty of the many small, handcrafted items commonly found in Japanese kitchens and workshops of the time. (Kagoshima: Stories in Craft from South Japan, published a couple of years ago, explores the story of mingei in the Satsuma region.)

Satsumas today are well established in the United States. Satsumas came originally to a Jesuit plantation up the river from New Orleans early in the 19th century, and from there spread across the South and out to California. The towns of Satsuma in Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Louisiana were all named after the fruit. By 1920, Jackson County in the Florida Panhandle started to call itself the “Satsuma Capital of the World.”

You can serve the satsuma sorbet for a dessert or a light afternoon pick-me-up. Better still, take advantage of the slightly warmer weather that means spring really is coming, swing by the Cream Top Shop at the Creamery, and get a small cup to share with a friend. Pair it with vanilla gelato to make a dreamy Dreamsicle. You can play around with it at home, too—its citrusy, not-too-sweet brightness makes it a nice touch to serve a small bit on the side with some fresh oysters! Or top small scoops with a garnish of chopped fresh tarragon—it’s an interesting combo and a great palate cleanser between courses. It’s great, too, with a twist of really good black pepper on top, like maybe the Elephant Valley pepper we have from the folks at Épices de Cru in Quebec!

Procure a pint