Mango Memories & No Work Mango "Sorbet"

I think I ate my first mango in London.

We were there for two years in the mid-1970's. All sorts of imported "exotic" fruits and vegetables were available in Golders Green. Many were even from Israel. My Cousin Fran from Brooklyn visited us one winter day and brought a big bag of delicious fruit as a house gift:

"I figured that this was the best of kosher food for you, especially since I don't know what's kosher here."

Back to the mango:
Mango, avocado, artichoke and other Israeli staples weren't seen in New York when I was growing up. Certainly they weren't in our neighborhood stores, and my parents were pretty adventurous when it came to trying new foods.

It's not that mango wasn't for sale in Israel. During our early years in Israel, I was happy with the better than in New York standard high quality summer fruit like melon, watermelon, bananas and peaches. Davka, those weren't all that great in London. Imported lost some of the quality I had gotten used to.

I had read about the high healthy vitamin content in a mango so I bought some. They were a hit with me and our daughters, especially with the fussy eater. Mangoes are expensive, so I never used to buy them very often.

Now, when I buy mangoes for myself, I use them to "make sorbet."

• freeze ripe mango
• remove frozen mango from freezer
• thaw enough to cut slices
• eat
• One of my sons takes the chunks of frozen mangoes, mashes them by hand or in food processor and refreezes to serve more impressively as "sorbet."

Can anything be easier or more delicious?

Bonus:Totally healthy and no added sugar!

Mango, Apple, Prune Compote - No Sugar

This amazingly sweet compote doesn't have a drop of added sugar. Actually, almost all of the ingredients had been found hiding in the freezer when I began checking what needed to be thrown out or eaten before Passover.

FYI mangos freeze amazingly well. I have the super simplest way of making Mango Sorbet with just frozen mangos. But the mango I found tucked into the bowels of my fridge freezer had possibly been hiding there too long for me to just eat it raw. It looked and smelled perfect.

When in doubt about the freshness and safety of a food, frequently, all you need to do is to boil it for awhile. So, I checked about using mangos in cooked comptes, and discovered that it is done.

The usual partner for the cooked mangos is apple, and I just happened to have some apple slices frozen solid in the freezer compartment, too. Since there weren't too many apple slices I cut up a nice green one to add to my compote. I also discovered a bag of a few prunes, which joined the mango and apples in the pot. All I needed to add was water.

Ingredients:

• mango
• apple
• prunes

Yes, that plus water. The compote was amazingly sweet just from those three ingredients. Of course you can vary by using raisins, pears or other fruit. But I had needed to finish off the mango, apple and prunes. 

Your can't get simpler, tastier or sweeter, and not a drop of added sugar.

Mangos, Yum

Early yesterday morning, when I was in a Jerusalem supermarket looking for fruit to have with my goat yogurt for breakfast in Matan I noticed these mangos. I felt them, and they were soft, ripe, edible. To be perfectly honest there was something a bit suspicious about them. They seemed a bit too ripe, a bit too soft in some places and colorful to be fruit of the new season.

My guess is that they had been in cold storage over the winter, but I bought one anyway.  It tasted great!

A Treat From The Freezer

When mangoes were ripe and yummy quite a few months ago, I bought more than I could eat and stored the extra in the freezer. And now, when the summer fruit hasn't yet fully ripened and gotten reasonably priced, I'm enjoying those mangoes.

Mangoes thaw really well, but when frozen they are like the best quality sorbet imaginable. All natural and very healthy.

Nutrition by the Numbers
One cup (225 grams contain) contains the following. Percentages apply to daily value.

• 105 calories
• 76 percent vitamin C (antioxidant and immune booster)
• 25 percent vitamin A  (antioxidant and vision)
• 11 percent vitamin B6 plus other B vitamins (hormone production in brain and heart disease prevention)
• 9 percent healthy probiotic fiber
• 9 percent copper (copper is a co-factor for many vital enzymes plus production of red blood cells)
• 7 percent potassium (to balance out our high sodium intake)
• 4 percent magnesium