How come nobody ever told me sherbet was so easy to make? Four ingredients, a freezer and a mixer — I could have been doing this for years.

So thank you, Hannah Kawa­kami, for your request: "My mother-in-law would make tangerine sherbet with fresh tangerine juice years ago. And now we can’t find that delicious but simple recipe. It used few ingredients — like the juice, sugar, maybe some milk or cream." Her mother-in-law froze the mixture, she said, "then used a mixer to beat it before freezing again."

With those clues, I went on a search of sherbets and sorbets in tangerine and orange flavors, hoping to find bits and pieces I could cobble into a whole. Rejected out of hand were any that required ice cream makers or that strayed from Kawa­kami’s basic ingredient list.

A few did suggest the use of mixers, or simply stirring the mixture a few times as it froze. The basic formula: equal parts juice and cream, a squeeze of lemon juice and enough sugar for sweetness with a tart edge.

Start with good, fresh fruit and you can enjoy this treat at any stage of the process. Before freezing, the chilled ingredients make a great smoothie. After a couple of hours in the freezer, you have a tasty slush. Once it’s frozen solid, you can break off pieces for fruit bars. Or in the end you’ll have a truly delicious sherbet.

Get fancy with presentation if you like and scoop the fruit and pulp out of several tangerine halves, leaving just the skins. Fill with sherbet and serve.

I already have plans to make this again with other fruit juices, starting with the lilikoi I’ve been keeping in my refrigerator while waiting for inspiration to strike.

Easy Tangerine Sherbet

1-1/2 cups fresh tangerine juice (about 6 medium fruit)
1-1/2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Combine ingredients in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve sugar. Taste and add more sugar if needed (if you like smoothies, have a cup now). Pour into 9-inch square pan and freeze 2 to 3 hours.

Mixture should be solid on top but may be soft underneath. Stir well (if you like a good slush, have a portion now). Return to freezer until frozen through, another 2 to 3 hours. Put the beaters for your mixer in the freezer, too.

Break into chunks (if you like fruit bars, have a piece now). Place in bowl and beat with electric mixer, using chilled beaters, until even and smooth. May be served immediately, or cover bowl and return to freezer for a firmer sherbet. Makes about 1 quart.

Approximate nutritional information, per 1/2 cup serving: 150 calories, 6 g fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 20 mg sodium, 22 g carbohydrate, no fiber, 20 g sugar, 2 g protein

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Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S. Write "By Request," Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.