Naturally creamy mango sorbet, with fresh mangos, lime juice, simple syrup.
Mango, lime, sugar. These ingredients are just destined to be together in a sorbet! A perfect way to cool down on a hot day.
Sweet mangoes have a rich and creamy texture that balance beautifully with bright tart lime juice.
The problem you can encounter when making homemade sorbet is that it can become hard and icy if stored for any period of time.
The mango helps a bit with this, but if you don’t plan to eat the sorbet right away, it really makes a difference to add a couple tablespoons of some sort of high alcohol content liquor to the sorbet. The lower freezing temperature of the alcohol keeps the sorbet from getting too icy.
If you don’t want to use alcohol, you can add a couple tablespoons of corn syrup. It won’t be as effective as alcohol to prevent iciness, but it will help.
We are also starting with a simple syrup to make our sorbet. Sugar crystals attract other sugar crystals, so if you dissolve them first in water to make your sorbet, you have less chance of them quickly crystallizing.
Mango Sorbet Recipe
- Prep time: 25 minutes
- Chilling and processing time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Yield: Makes almost 1 quart
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 3 ripe mangos (about 2 1/2 pounds)
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- Pinch salt
- 2 tablespoons tequila, rum, or vodka (optional) OR 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
Method
1 Make simple syrup: Heat the sugar, salt, and water in a medium saucepan until the sugar and salt have completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.
2 Prep mango: Use a vegetable peeler to peel the outside peel of the mangoes. Then cut the flesh away from the large flat white seed in the center of the mango. Discard the seed and peel. Rough chop the mango flesh. You should have about 3 1/2 to 4 cups of chopped mango.
3 Blend mango, simple syrup, lime juice: Put the mango pieces, simple syrup, and lime juice into a blender. Blend until completely smooth.
4 Chill: Pour into a medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until completely chilled.
5 Process in ice cream maker: When ready to put the chilled lime mango purée into your ice cream maker, mix in the tequila, rum, vodka (if using) or corn syrup.
Process the mixture in your ice cream maker (Amazon sells a good one) according to the ice cream maker directions.
6 Freeze until firm: Transfer mixture to a plastic storage container and freezer in your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours.
Links:
How to make ice cream without an ice cream maker – tips from David Lebovitz
Tips for making your ice cream softer – more tips from David Lebovitz
Mango Sorbet from Serious Eats
