With the sun out and shining these past few days, anything cool and creamy sounds about right. I had my mind set on making mango sorbet after picking up a few, but I had to wait for them to ripen up a bit. This gave me a little time to think about how I wanted to prepare it.I decided I didn’t want plain mango sorbet, I wanted something with an exotic spice type flavor.

Then I found this recipe and thought I was getting closer to what I wanted. Mango is already a pretty sweet fruit so I new I’d be fine with reducing the amount of sugar in the recipe, but then a whole new idea found its way to me. Ice cream sweetened with dates. I’ve made lots of desserts and raw foods with dates in there to sweeten things up, but it never occurred to me to sweeten ice cream with them. I had to try it out.

What came out was nothing short of exactly what I wanted. Creamy, slightly spiced, mango sorbet without any added sugar, other than the natural sugars found in mango and dates. I was able to get the dates pureed enough that you can barely see any trace of them, they do however lesson the brightness of the mango color, but that’s fine with me. I can’t wait to experiment with more flavors and mixtures. It’s going to be a tasty Summer!

Mango Sorbet / makes about 2 cups
Inspired by Food & Wine and xgfx

If you’d prefer a brighter hew for your sorbet you can still use regular sugar. A half to three-quarter cup should do it depending on your sweetness preference. I’m not sure if it was the coconut milk that added the creaminess or the fruit to liquid ratio, but it was rather creamy to me for homemade sorbet. I might try to up the milk if I make this again, just to see how it turns out. I was out of coconut shavings, but I think they would make a great topping once toasted.

4 ounces pitted dates, about 1 cup
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup coconut milk or almond milk
2 whole cloves
1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped
2 large ripe mangoes, about 3 cups

In a small saucepan combine the dates, water, coconut milk, cloves, and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil, then remove from heat, cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture into a bowl, but toss the dates back in with the milk mixture.

Meanwhile chop the mango into 1/2-inch pieces, place in blender and puree until the mango is smooth. Pour the milk mixture over the pureed mango. Blend thoroughly until smooth.

Refrigerate until cold, about an hour. Once cold pour into the bowl of an ice cream mixer and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. Place the sorbet into the freezer until ready to serve. Pulling it out about 15 minutes to serving will make it easier to scoop and more creamy of a texture.