Summer  is the best of all seasons — bringing loads of melons, even more berries,  crates full of peaches, nectarines and baskets and baskets of blueberries. The abundance of reds, purples and pinks inspire to simple salads and heavenly desserts. Fruit macedonia for breakfast or lunch makes way for brightly colored frozen fruits after supper. I like to fill frosty caffè’ latte bowls with homemade fruit sorbet and top them with chopped fruits for an effortless dessert.

The following recipe for nectarine sorbet can be varied according to the season. Seek out ripe summer fruits from your local farm or visit the organic market to discover the many variations on this simple theme. Take home a bag of wild peaches as soon as they are in season for sorbet as in Sicily.

Ingredients

• 8 ripe nectarines
• the juice and zest of two organic pink grapefruit
• one teaspoon of honey

Bring a pan of water to a boil. Wash the nectarines and cut an x over the bottom surface of the skin. Put the fruit into the boiling water just one minute and remove them with a slotted spoon. Allow the nectarines to cool before slipping off their skins. Meanwhile squeeze the juice of the pink grapefruit after grating the peel with a zester.

Puree six nectarines with the grapefruit juice. Add the honey and stir well. Pour the puréed fruit into six small caffe’ latte bowls or use your favorite jam jars, and freeze the lot for an hour. Cut the remaining fruit into small wedges. Decorate the sorbet with nectarine wedges and sprinkle each bowl with grapefruit zest. Add some honey at the last-minute and serve.

Suggested combinations

Serve your fruit sorbet for breakfast with fresh yoghurt on especially warm summer days.

Pour the blended fruit into ice cubes and serve it in mineral water for a refreshing afternoon drink.

Soak the nectarine wedges in some ice-cold Prosecco or Moscato d’Asti for a half an hour, pour the fruit and wine in a glass, add a sorbet ice cube or two — and enjoy a lovely “aperitivo”.

Notes

There are many opinions about what makes for a sorbet and how it differs from an Italian granita or gremolata. Traditionally, sorbet is made with pureed fruit, whereas granita is made with a combination of fruit syrup and water. My favorite Sicilian style granita is made with almond milk and espresso!

Both of these ice-cold desserts traditionally use quite a bit of sugar. I like to forget the sugar altogether, thus allowing the fruit itself to come center stage.