Mango Light

Introduction

We are returning to mango gelato after publishing our version inspired by the recipes of the best gelato makers. We have now perfected mango gelato at home, but the time has come to experiment. The flavor is fresh and excellent; perhaps its only drawback is the one shared by all gelato: the amount of sugar delivers a hefty dose of calories and affects blood glucose!

So I decided to explore how to make a healthy, lighter version.

Is it possible to make a fruit gelato without sugars?

Sugars actually lower the freezing point and allow gelato to remain creamy below zero. But different sugars behave differently!

Let me tell you the story of fructose: it is a sugar found naturally in almost all fruit. It has a lower glycemic index than sucrose, but not a zero one, and it is not automatically suitable for people with diabetes: its use should be assessed in the context of the overall diet and with a doctor or nutrition professional. From a technical standpoint, it has:

• a high PAC of 190, giving it strong antifreezing power
• an equally high POD of 173, almost twice that of regular sugar

Its greater sweetness and higher PAC may allow less of it to be used than sucrose for a similar effect, but fructose provides about 4 kcal/g, essentially the same as sucrose: it does not have half the calories.

Another issue now arises with fruit gelato: a shortage of solids, since traditionally the solid component is only sugar.

I decided to compensate with two ingredients:

• Inulin: a fiber extracted from chicory. It is a prebiotic and is used as a dietary supplement for the gut. It also has excellent thickening properties that mimic fat in gelato, adding creaminess. Its energy contribution is low, but it should not be considered completely calorie-free.
• Maltodextrin: unfortunately, we cannot compensate with inulin alone without altering the texture and creaminess too much. We therefore completed the solid component with a low-dextrose-equivalent glucose, meaning one with low POD and PAC. This does not, however, mean that it necessarily has a low glycemic index. Essentially, it adds solids without much flavor.

The recipe is below; please leave a comment about this experimental recipe!

Ingredients

Prepared for about 1kg:

Recipe balance

iCalc chart

Preparation

Tested with 800g using a Cuisinart ICE-100 machine

1. Preparing the ingredients:
   1. Combine all the dry powders
   2. Cut and process the mango flesh
   3. Add the lemon to the blended mango and mix
2. Pasteurization:

   The process below is intended to make things faster and save time, although it may not be ideal or follow best practices. If you are not comfortable with it, use the standard method for pasteurization and adding ingredients.

   1. Heat the water to 90ºC with a kettle
   2. Add the powders a little at a time
   3. Add the remaining water at room temperature
   4. Rapidly cool the mixture to below 10 degrees
   5. Add the blended mango flesh and mix
3. Aging: overnight at 4 °C or below
4. Churning: 30min, extracted at about -5.5ºC
5. Time in the freezer: 12h

   

Final notes and conclusions

• Overrun: 20%
• Serving temperature: -14C
• Texture: creamy, airier
• Melting behavior: good, holds up well at serving temperature
• Crystallization: fine, but noticeable in some cases; slightly less uniform than the standard version

Tasting notes

• The mango flavor is fresh and clearly perceptible, with an excellent balance of flavors
• Slightly sweeter than our other recipe for Mango Gelato according to Corvitto, but with a fresh sweetness that highlights the mango flavor. Fructose contributes to the sweetness!
• In this case, the mango was slightly more acidic and less aromatic: the fruit’s flavor comes through unchanged in the final result. Excellent for our experiment!

Conclusions

This recipe is a true scientific experiment, and given the good results, I decided to share it so that we can discuss it together.

Similar flavor and texture, with innovative ingredients and properties we might call interesting: the formulation may have a lower glycemic impact than an equivalent recipe with more sucrose, but it is not sugar-free and does not automatically have half the calories. Diabetes-related needs should be assessed with a doctor or nutrition professional.

The ingredients are not the usual ones found in the kitchen, but they are easy to obtain, for example on Amazon. Tell us what you think!