Most trips to our local farmer’s market leave me shaking my head at grocery store produce prices. Like me, you may have always reasoned that grocery store produce is fresher, giving them cause to charge double or triple the price, oftentimes even more, of the farmer’s market. After several instances of produce gone bad only days after a grocery store trip, I simply don’t know what to think anymore.
Our most recent farmer’s market trip was no different. Among the treasure trove we brought home was a 50 cent carton of cherry tomatoes, a basket of monster carrots for $2, and a $7 box of mangoes. If you ever purchase the exotic fruit of the mango, you’ll know that one dollar for one mango is an extreme deal, while $3 for 2 is the norm, making our box of over a dozen mangoes a definite bargain.
I’m sure you are thinking exactly what I was thinking when Hubby picked up the box, looked at me, and said, “Want it? It’s only $7 for the whole box!”
How can a family of two, in which one of the members only likes the flavor of mango but not the actual fruit*, possibly eat that many ripe mangoes before the inevitable occurs?
*That would be Hubby, not me.
My husband had an answer for that, of course.
“You can make mango ice cream!”
“Oh. Can I?” was my thought, but I smiled and nodded and went along with purchasing more mangoes than have ever entered our home in our entire marriage.
Hubby likes to push my limits. He likes to suggest things for me to try without providing the actual means or route for me to accomplish his suggestions.
Mango ice cream was no exception.
Mango ice cream is not a recipe I have passed by in my continual recipe book browsing, nor was it an item on my ‘future foods to try and make’ list. And though I could have Googled ‘mango ice cream’*, I decided to experiment with it on my own. Using a collaboration of methods experienced so far in the life of my ice cream maker, this is the creamy goodness I came up with:
*Not to toot my own horn or anything, but after a quick Google search just now, I have decided my way was best.
Here’s the recipe, just in case you love mangoes (and the flavor of mango) as much as we do:
Ingredients:
4 ripe mangoes, chopped
2 T lemon juice, freshly squeezed is always nice
1.25 cups sugar, separated
1.5 cups heavy cream
1.5 cups half and half
5 egg yolks
Directions:
- Combine the chopped mangoes, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup of sugar in a saucepan. Cook over low heat for thirty minutes or longer, mixing and chopping the mango along the way.
- Use an immersion blender to further chop up the softened mango.
- Pour the mixture into a bowl through a fine mesh strainer. Use a spoon to get as much liquid out as possible. (This took me a good five minutes or so and yielded around 1.5 cups of liquid). Discard the remaining pulp.
- Mix the heavy cream with the mango. Set aside.
- Heat the remaining sugar with half-and-half in a saucepan over medium heat.
- As that warms, beat the egg yolks until they are a pale yellow color.
- Temper the yolks with a little of the warm cream, whisking constantly as the cream is added.
- Pour the yolks into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until thick, stirring continually, about five minutes.
- Pour the custard mixture into the mango mixture and mix.
- Put in the refrigerator for two hours or longer.
- Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
- Refrigerate overnight or until firm.
Whenever I make ice cream, I usually end up using a spatula to ensure that I have retrieved every drop of ice cream from the ice cream maker bowl.*
*And yes, when I get to the particularly elbow deep point of ice cream removal, most of it is going into my mouth.
The taste of this mango ice cream made me mad and happy at Hubby all at once.
He was right. Mango ice cream is a great way to use a ripe box of farmer’s market mangoes. And, it isn’t often that you can call ice cream healthy*, so that’s a win, too, right?
*I mean, it has fresh fruit in it. Fresh fruit = healthy. Yes?
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