Mango-Chile Ice Pops
Paletas (ice pops) are made fresh daily at small paleterias across Mexico. The frozen treats are often wild combinations of savory and sweet, spicy and herbal, incorporating both fruits and vegetables. These simple-to-make pops balance sweet mango with an interesting edge of mild chile. If fresh mango isn’t available, substitute papaya, passion fruit or even blackberries and their juices in these ice pops.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 fl. oz./250 ml) store-bought mango juice or nectar
- 1/4 cup (2 oz./60 g) sugar
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp. ancho chile powder
- 1 large mango, peeled, pitted and diced
Directions
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the mango juice, sugar, lemon juice and 1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml) water, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and refrigerate until chilled.
Stir the chile powder and diced mango into the chilled mango juice mixture and pour into eight 3–fl. oz (90-ml) ice-pop molds. Insert an ice-pop stick into each mold and freeze until the pops are solid, about 3 hours.
To release ice pops from their molds, run the bottoms of the molds briefly under cold water. Makes 8 ice pops.
Adapted from Williams Sonoma Rustic Mexican (Weldon Owen, 2017)