Mango Ice Cream

So why did I choose my next ice cream to be mango flavor? When I posed the question to myself before writing this article the answer did not quickly jump at me. Maybe it was because I read an article on Pinterest about mango ice cream and was intrigued. Maybe I had a lingering craving to recreate the mango soft serve we had in Mozambique. Both of these would have been good answers, however I think ultimately I wanted to make something simple but awesome. We have so been consumed by advertising telling us that bigger and more is better. I mean everywhere you look it yells at you: “Don’t be satisfied with simplicity!” Most of the food you see on Pinterest or social media projects the same message: “Don’t be satisfied. You want more! Sweet is not good enough; you want triple sweet!” Maybe it was a combination of all of these that led me to attempt this. So I went for the pure taste of mango - no trimmings, no extras, nothing over the top. Just plain and simple mango ice cream.

I was not going to follow somebody’s recipe, but I needed to have an idea what the ratio between mango and ice cream should be, so I looked gathered some inspiration, tweaked my basic recipe and loaded up on mangoes. Of course, the mangoes wasn’t ripe when I bought it, so the experiment would have to be put on ice for a few days. After all, flavour was one of the essential goals on my checklist. A week later the mangoes looked ready and I retired to the kitchen to try something new.

Our normal recipe was the base mixture, although I added some mascarpone again. After all, because it had really worked well with my previous attempt. I also hoped the mascarpone would complement the mango.

First I liquidised three large mangoes to a pulp. I didn’t just want a strong flavour, but also for the mango pulp to be tasted in the ice cream. In other words, I was aiming for real – not artificial – flavour. The pulp was stored in the fridge until needed.

In the meantime, one can of evaporated milk and a cup of cream were chilled in the fridge overnight. First the evaporated milk was beaten until light and fluffy, and then the cream was beaten separately until thick. Then the cream was added to the evaporated milk, along with a can of condensed milk, and stirred together. Lastly the mascarpone was mixed with the mango pulp, and then folded into the cream mixture.

To freeze, I placed the mixture in a fairly flat metal container and then into the freezer. The secret is to stir the mixture every two hours if you don’t have your own ice cream machine. Don’t skip, because you will get ice flakes in your ice cream and it will not be smooth and creamy.

In Italy we were taught that you can always look at the banana flavor to see if colourants and artificial flavors are used. If it is bright yellow, they used artificial colour and flavours. We really tried to be authentic so I chose not to use any colourants in my recipe.

We were all definitely able to eat the end product. One of our guinea pigs remarked that you could actually taste the mango; exactly what we were aiming for. The rich fruity flavour and the creamy texture of the base mixture blended even better than I’d hoped. Just a few ordinary ingredients turned out to create an extraordinary new favourite in our recipe book.