Last updated on April 28, 2023
Italian gelato made without dairy products is not actually called ice cream, but sorbet. It's made with just fruit, sugar and water, and it's amazing. We are Italian and we share our original recipes
On All Italian we have written many pages on making ice cream at home. Fruit sorbet ice cream is the easiest to prepare, because the recipe contains only three ingredients: water, sugar and fresh fruit. And you can make sorbet ice cream with all kinds of fruit.
On this page we make a mango sorbet as an example. In addition to sharing the recipe, we show the preparation with the ice cream maker.
The Italian words of this page:
| 🔊 Gelato Italiano | Italian ice cream |
| 🔊 Sorbetto | Sorbet |
| 🔊 Sorbetto di frutta | Fruit sorbet |
You can make sorbet gelato with all kinds of fruit. Here we make mango sorbet as an example.
You can use the same recipe with other fruits too: cherries, raspberries, strawberries, kiwis.
Of course, the proportions between the ingredients change a little, depending on the type of fruit: some fruits are more sugary, others contain more water.
Mango is one of the most popular tropical fruits and is used to make one of the most delicious sorbets: mango sorbet, 🔊 sorbetto al mango in Italian.
👉 In Italian ice cream parlors you will also find mango ice cream, made with milk and whipped cream (but without eggs, which do not go well with homemade fruit ice cream).
The difference between ice cream and sorbet is that ice cream is creamier, but the mango flavor is much stronger in the sorbet ice cream.
| Ingredient image | Ingredient name | Cups | Grams | Ounces |
|
Mango (peeled) | 10.6 oz | 300 g | |
|
Water | 0.85 cup | 7 oz | 200 g |
|
Sugar | 0.5 cup | 3.5 oz | 100 g |
For each ingredient we indicate both the volume in cups and the weight in ounces and grams.
👉 To be more accurate we prefer to weigh all the ingredients: both solids and liquids before pouring them into the ice cream mixture.
For this you need a kitchen scale, preferably a digital one, which usually expresses the weight in ounces (oz) and/or grams (g).
For this recipe we use a popular model compressor ice cream maker. The preparation steps are the same for most ice cream makers on the market, including the models with freezer bowl.
You can also make our ice cream recipes with the Ninja Creami with the “gelato” program.
👉 Read also our guide on how to use the ice cream maker.
The first step is to turn on the ice cream maker, if you have a compressor ice cream maker. While you wait 10 minutes for the ice cream maker to cool down, you can prepare the ingredients.
If you use an ice cream maker with a freezer bowl, it is important that this is very cold beforehand and ready to make the ice cream.
Wash and peel the mango, and cut it into small pieces. Then put it with the water and sugar in a bowl and mix everything with an immersion blender until you get a smooth and homogeneous mixture.
There's a trick that isn't usually detailed in the ice cream maker manual. When you pour the ice cream, the ice cream maker should already be cold and the mixing paddle should be rotating.
How do you do that? With the ice cream maker on, pour the mixture through the opening on the lid of the machine.
By doing this, you lower the chances that the mixing paddle gets stuck before the ice cream is ready.
Ice cream made with milk and whipping cream usually takes 40 minutes for the ice cream maker to prepare. A shorter time is sufficient for the sorbet, which is usually ready in just 20-30 minutes.
The transparent lid allows you to check the status of the ice cream to understand when it is ready.
If it seems solid to you, just pause the ice cream maker and taste the ice cream.
Your Italian sorbet gelato is ready. Buon appetito! 🍨
In the restaurant in Italy, when you finish eating, the waiter will ask: 🔊 andava tutto bene? (was everything fine?)
Homemade Italian ice cream is made with whipping cream and milk; sometimes it also contains eggs, depending on the recipe.
Sorbet does not contain dairy products. Some recipes do use egg whites to make the sorbet softer, but this is optional.
For this reason, sorbet gelato is also considered a type of vegan ice cream.
Sorbet is a little less creamy than ice cream, and a little more icy.
The presence of milk in traditional ice cream softens the taste of the fruit. Conversely, sorbet made without milk usually has a more pronounced fruit flavour.
Moreover, fruit ice cream is not sweeter than fruit sorbet: because both contain sugars.
Because ice cream is made with milk, it also provides proteins, fats and calcium. It is therefore a much more nutrient food than sorbet.
In sorbet ice cream, fats and proteins are absent or present in minimal amounts.
Sorbet has a higher concentration of sugars and does not contain many nutrients other than fruit vitamins.
That is why sorbet ice cream is more digestible than ice cream and contains fewer calories: on average, 3.5 oz (100 grams) of ice cream supplies 200 kcal, compared to 120-150 kcal of a fruit sorbet ice cream.
I am Italian from Trentino. I studied philosophy in Padua and worked for many years between Milan and Amsterdam in the field of media and culture.
Since 2021 I write on All Italian to practice foreign languages; meanwhile I share with you the customs and traditions of my country, and the recipes that I prepare at home.