Nutrition Budgeteer: August 2011

The challenge this month for Recipe Redux was to create a healthy frozen dessert.
I decided to create a fruit sorbet. I wanted a recipe that didn't require an ice cream maker and that didn’t have too much sugar, like many store-bought sorbet varieties.

This recipe is extremely easy make. Basically, the fruit is peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, and then frozen solid. Then it is processed in a food processor with just a little maple syrup and water. It can be eaten immediately or frozen for up to 2 weeks.

Here are the specifics.

I started with fresh mango and pineapple. I peeled the mango and cut the flesh into cubes. Need help cutting a mango? Click here to see a video on how to cut a mango.

I pulled the top off the pineapple, cut off the outside and the core, and cut the remaining flesh into cubes. Need help cutting a pineapple? Click here to see a video on how to cut a pineapple.

Here are the frozen mango and pineapple cubes in the bowl of a food processor. One cup of frozen mango cubes, one cup of frozen pineapple cubes, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, and 1 tablespoon of water are combined in the bowl of a food processor and pulsed until smooth, scraping with a rubber spatula occasionally. Then the whole process is duplicated to make 8 1/2-cup servings.

The photo on the top left is the final mango-pineapple sorbet.

Click here for the complete Simply Fruit Sorbet recipe for all three versions: mango-pineapple, strawberry-banana, and peach.

So how does this homemade fresh fruit mango-pineapple sorbet compare to store bought varieties? Take a look at the chart below to compare.

Chart: Comparison of Mango Sorbets

	This Recipe: Pineapple-Mango Sorbet	Haagen-Daz all natural Mango Sorbet	Simple Enjoy Mango Sorbetto	Ciao Bella natural Mango Sorbetto

total cost	$2.57	$4.29	$3.99	$4.49
total no. of 1/2-cup servings	8	3.5	8	4
cost per serving	$0.32	$1.23	$0.50	$1.12

Nutrition Information per 1/2 cup
calories	59	150	80	107
total fat (g)	0	0	0	0
protein (g)	0.6	0	0	0
carbohydrates (g)	15.1	38	21	27
sugars (g)	na	36	15	26
fiber (g)	0.6	0	0	1
vitamin A (% DV)	20	20	10	20
calcium (% DV)	0	0	0	0
vitamin C (% DV)	12	10	6	0
iron (% DV)	0	0	4	0

Label Ingredients	Mango, pineapple, maple syrup, water.	Water, sugar, mango puree, lemon juice concentrate, pumpkin juice concentrate, carrot juice concentrate, natural flavor, pectin.	Filtered water, mango puree, high fructose corn syrup, granulated sugar, citric acid, mango flavor, guar gum, xanthum gum, yellow 5, yellow 6.	Mango, water, sugar.

From this chart, you can see that the homemade recipe has the fewest calories and carbohydrates and it costs far less per serving that the three store-bought versions. From looking at the ingredient labels, one version lists sugar as the second ingredient. Another one lists high fructose corn syrup and granulated sugar, and one has just three ingredients, mango, water and sugar. The homemade recipe contains only fruit, maple syrup and water.

You can use the same process to make a strawberry-banana sorbet or a peach sorbet.

Here are the strawberries on a wax paper-lined sheet.