Mango and Strawberry - The King and Queen of Fruit Kingdom
RP of ‘My Workshop’ commented that if mango was the king of the fruits, strawberry could be the queen of fruit kingdom. Very true, indeed. The kind of fervor we, Indians, reserve for mangoes is often shown for strawberries by the people here in the States. Romance, weddings and any special occasions of life… there come the strawberries.
The delicate ruby red beauties, the queens of berries, strawberries are high maintaince as queens should be. They don’t like to be crammed and they need a certain temperature for their beauty regime. If it is too hot, they will get spoiled within a day. Too cold, their flavor becomes elusive. Divas and prima donnas, with a mind of their own, they are the attention grabbers. Color, shape and smell… nothing subtle about them, except may be their sweet flavor. Though looks red and bulky, the supermarket variety is more tart than sweet. One has to have a taste of Indian mangoes to know how good mangoes are. Just like mangoes, one must taste freshly picked strawberries from farms or from open meadows to really know how good they are to understand the reason for fervor. Fortunate are those, who have tasted the real things in this life.
Here is a recipe showcasing them both - popsicles or ice pops of mango and strawberries.
Mango and strawberries with little bit of limejuice and little bit of sugar - blend, pour and freeze - homemade popsicles for hot summer days would be ready. Who doesn’t have memories of hot summer days and colorful popsicles?
Recipe:
2 mangoes - peeled, cut and seed removed, finely cubed
15 to 20 strawberries - stems removed and cut into half
Sugar to taste
2 tablespoons of limejuice
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Blender
Popsicle mold with sticks or popsicle sticks and small cups
Refrigerator
1 Prepare Mango Juice: Take mango cubes in a blender. Add a tablespoon of sugar (adjust depending on the sweetness of mangoes) and a tablespoon of limejuice and blend into smooth puree.
2 Prepare Strawberry Juice: Take strawberries in a blender. Add a tablespoon of sugar (adjust depending on the sweetness of strawberries) and a tablespoon of limejuice and blend into smooth puree.
3 Making Popsicles: Pour the juice into popsicles mold or small cups in a tray. You can prepare at least 4 different types of ice pops with these two juices. Plain strawberry, plain mango, mango (bottom half)-strawberry (top half) and strawberry (bottom half)-mango (top half) combinations. If you are using the cups, then place popsicle sticks into cups. Freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight.
4 Popsicle time: Place the tray in hot water for few seconds and pull out the pops from the molds or cups. Enjoy!
Saying Goodbye to Mango Month and Welcoming the Strawberry Month with Mango-Strawberry Popsicle
Strawberry Popsicle for JFI~Strawberries
