Grate the rind of one lemon and squeeze all four

Heat up the water with the cinnamon stick in, and once it starts to boil, let it simmer for 10 minutes. Let it cool.

Once cool, put in a bowl and add the lemon juice and the grated rind. Stir well and put the bowl in the freezer.

When the mixture is starting to freeze, beat the egg whites until they are stiff, adding the pinch of salt. Take the bowl out and mix the eggs into the freezing mixture.

Put the bowl into the freezer until it is cold and hard.

Minty sorbet. If you prefer a minty sorbet rather than a cinnamony one, use mint leaves instead of the cinnamon stick. Add a good sized sprig to the water when it is boiling, and also decorate each portion with a mint leaf or two.

Make your own lemon cups. Some Spanish restaurants serve lemon sorbet in lemons which are actually very easy to prepare and make a nice alternative to a dish or glass. To make your own lemon dishes, cut off the top third of each lemon (this will be the lid once the lemon is full of sorbet) and then hollow the lemons and lids out using a grapefruit knife to avoid cutting through the skin. Then cut a small slice out of the bottom of each lemon (without cutting through to the flesh), so that it stands firmly. Put the lemons and their lids in the freezer for a couple of hours minimum so that they harden. Take them out and fill each lemon with sorbet. Put the lids on, and put them into the freezer again until you are ready to serve them (you can keep them in the freezer for as long as a week)

Add Cava - this sorbet is delicious with a small amount of cava (Spanish fizzy white wine) poured over it just before serving.

Lemon and Cava 3-minute sorbet. If you haven't got much time and need to make the fastest sorbet in the world, here is an original idea given to us by a Spanish friend and willingly tested by us - it is delicious. Buy some lemon icecream (if you live in Spain, you can get delicious lemon icecream at any heladería) and put it in a liquidizer with half a bottle of iced champagne. Turn the liquidizer on for a couple of seconds and serve immediately in cold champagne glasses with a sprig of fresh mint and a slice of lemon on top!