Mamey Pops and a Little Ice Cream too

Mamey or Mamey Sapote was first introduced to me by a wonderful Cuban lady who used to own a local Cuban restaurant near me.  She made wonderful mamey milkshakes.  The mamey itself is a tropical fruit that has a very unique flavor.  I have heard it described as similar to a number of different things such as peach, pumpkin, cherry, almond - none of which taste similar or really like mamey.  I want to say it has an almost fruity mild chocolate taste, but you probably will disagree as much as I do with the others.  You simply have to taste it.  Supposedly, you can find its frozen pulp at Hispanic markets, but I have had no luck finding it.  However, very occasionally, you can find it fresh.  My husband found the one I used here at Your Delkab Farmers Market in Decatur, GA.  It was quite large, and I got over 2 cups of puree from it even after throwing a large over ripe portion away.  If you scroll down below the recipes, I have some pictures of the mamey itself, so you will know what to look for.  I didn't take a picture of the inside before I removed the fruit because part of it was over ripe to the point of not being attractive, but it looks similar to an avocado, but with orange flesh and an oblong black seed.

I used the same mixture to go in the ice cream maker as I put in the pops.  The recipe itself is much lower in fat than the average ice cream recipe, but trust me, you will never know.  This recipe came from the Cuban milkshake idea I mentioned earlier in that the milkshake had sweetened condensed milk in it.  I wanted a similar taste, but we have been limiting our sugar.  I am going to take the time here to tell you that my husband was recently diagnosed with with type II diabetes, and while there will still be plenty of baked goods on here, there will be some diabetes friendly recipes too.  He really doesn't eat much of most of the sweets I make, but ice cream and popsicles are a different story.  He really likes those.  And yes, I have read about the evils of sucralose, but we are not going to make this sort of thing everyday, and we are experimenting with alternatives, but honestly those experimentations have not gone so well.  And luckily, things have changed and diabetics can have a controlled amount of sugar.  So, back to the sweetened condensed milk, I found this sweetened condensed milk substitute recipe at The Diabetic Pastry Chef and incorporated it into the recipe.  

Mamey Pops/Ice Cream

4 cups whole milk

1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder

1/2 cup sugar or other sweetener (I used Splenda.)

2 cups mamey sapote puree

water

To make the mamey puree, cut the mamey in chunks and process in a food processor until smooth.  I had to add about 1 Tbsp. of water to for each cup of chunks because mamey is a rather dry fruit.  Whisk together whole milk and powdered milk until all the lumps are gone from the powdered milk.  Whisk in nonfat dry milk and sugar or other sweetener.  Stir in mamey puree.  Pour mixture into popsicle molds and freeze until solid.  I made 8 pops and put the rest into a 1 1/2 quart ice cream freezer and froze using the manufacturers directions.

Source:  The Diabetic Pastry Chef

a whole mamey sapote

This give you an idea of about how large they are.

about 1/4 of a mamey sapote peeled and seed removed

mamey sapote cut in chunks

mamey sapote puree

mamey ice cream

pops