Imagination seems to be the only limitation when it comes to sorbets. Other than as a dessert, they're often used in between courses of big meals as "palate cleansers" -- something that gets the taste buds ready to dance with the next course. 

As you might guess, some pretty "out there" combinations can wind up in these sorbets. For example, herbs like rosemary or basil are often paired with citrus fruit or berries. So they can be interesting, to say the least. 

But what makes a sorbet tick? Since they're mostly water-based (at least compared to ice cream!), something has to keep them from freezing as solid as an ice cube. I found out that using sugar syrup does the trick. 

Sugar in Sorbet: Sugar lowers the freezing point of the sorbet. In other words, it makes it harder for the water part of the sorbet to freeze solid. So what you wind up with is something that's mostly frozen, but still scoop able. That's in an ideal world. You can go overboard. Too much sugar and you've got nothing more than slush. Too little, and you might as well serve it with an ice-pick. 

The key to getting the right amount of sugar is in the fruit itself. Different fruits contain different amounts of sugar. A lemon, for example, contains a lot less sugar than an orange. So when making lemon sorbet, you just add more sugar to keep it from freezing solid. I'm making a basic lemon sorbet and some variations. Make them, and then turn your imagination loose. 

A grapefruit knife is the only tool to use for this job. The angled blade keeps you from puncturing the bottom, and you can also cut underneath the center of the fruit. photo

By freezing the shell before filling it with sorbet, you avoid having a warm shell melt the sorbet. Freeze the shell for an hour, then fill it with sorbet and freeze again.

Your sorbet will keep several days this way. And when you serve it, the frozen shell will prevent the sorbet from melting too quickly.