Green Tea Mango Sorbet
I am a passionate lover of ice cream. Unfortunately, I’ve developed a dairy allergy and have recently found that sugar causes me to breakout. My mom got me an ice cream maker for my birthday a few years ago so I could experiment with recipes to work around my allergies.
I made a few attempts at developing a non-dairy ice cream base recipe. I was able to figure out a base that had a good flavor but was unable to achieve the rich and creamy mouth-feel of regular ice cream. I’ve taken a break from ice cream and have been working on sorbet recipes instead.
I started out with a mango sorbet and was able to get the flavor right off the bat. However, the sorbet would freeze way too hard and I couldn’t quite get the smooth somewhat soft texture that I had experienced with Haagen-Dazs’ sorbets. I did a bit of research online and realized that the hard freezing was being caused by the amount of sugar I was using.
In my attempt to reduce the sugar content, I used a 2:1 water to sugar ratio that was causing the sorbet to freeze hard. It turns out that to control the formation of ice crystals, you need the right proportion of sugar and/or alcohol. I went back to a standard simple syrup recipe and got the exact texture that I wanted.
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 green tea teabags
8 cups (fresh or frozen) mango chunks
Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Occasionally stir or swirl the pot to evenly dissolve the sugar.
Remove the pot from the heat and steep the teabags in the simple syrup for about 5 to 10 minutes. The green tea flavor will most likely be fairly mild but the intensity and flavor will really depend on the type of teabags you use.
Place the mango chunks in a blender and slowly pour in the simple syrup. If you’re using frozen mango chunks start out with the ice crush or pulse setting until the mango is broken up into smaller pieces. At that point, switch to a puree or liquefy setting and blend until the mixture is smooth. If necessary, puree the mixture in batches to ensure there is enough space in the blender.
Pour into a freezer safe container and place in the freezer for at least a few hours. There should be a bit of space at the top of the container to allow for expansion as the sorbet freezes.
Tags: desserts, fruits, recipes