Fresh Ideas: Mango Sorbet

Last week, I jumped into my first experience with making homemade ice cream and sorbet with a little help from a friend’s ice cream maker.

I discovered that a simple blend of sugar, water and fruit can yield the tastiest results unlike what you can buy prepackaged at the store.

I find that freshly made ice cream is a real treat and brings a little gourmet life into an everyday kitchen.

This summer, sorbets top the list of my favorite late-night snacks, and when made with lovely ripe fruit, they might just top yours.

Although I’ve written about my obsession with mangoes for years, I think this simple sorbet recipe may be the very best way to use the fruit — in a frozen sugar cocktail scooped up with a spoon.

Mangoes are my favorite fruit to pick up at local produce stands, and I always have one lying around for either a salad or snack.

I find the unique sweet flavor of mangoes so indulgent with their tropical flair that I often get caught up in the sensation of stepping away from my comfort zone of apples and pears and into a warmer, more exotic flavor.

Mangoes are a tropical fruit for sure and make for a perfect cooling sorbet in Baton Rouge’s late-summer weather.

Helena Brigman is a food writer, photographer and cookbook author. She can be reached with daily recipes at http://clearlydeliciousfoodblog.com or via email at hbrigm1@tigers.lsu.edu.