Mango Kefir Ice Cream w/o Ice Cream Maker

You will love this mango kefir ice cream for the probiotic benefits. If you are looking for a summer dessert to make with your milk kefir grains, this mango kefir ice cream is a tasty treat and uses only 4 ingredients. Mango and kefir are a perfect match in flavour. I will also show you some tips for achieving the best results without using an ice cream maker.

If you have been following my blog, you know that I emphasize a lot on probiotic foods, from fermented vegetables, to kombucha to milk kefir. Milk kefir made from milk kefir grains is one of the best source of probiotics providing somewhere between 30 and 50 strains of probiotic bacteria and yeast combined.  So it’s a no-brainer I would want this good stuff in my kids’ ice cream in the summer.

Mango Kefir Ice Cream Ingredients

Mango is one of my favourite fruits to pair with milk kefir. Just think the classic recipe of mango lassi that’s made from mango and yogurt. Milk kefir is slightly tangy like yogurt. Mango and milk kefir pairing to me is a perfect lassi. You know this combination will be even more awesome in an ice cream!

In order to make this mango kefir ice cream with full probiotic benefits, you will need to get the milk kefir grains from someone who is already growing them.  If you don’t have a friend who ferments milk kefir, you may be able to find some milk kefir grains in your local health food store, or buy milk kefir grains online.

More delicious milk kefir recipes:

• Raspberry Kefir Cream Cheese Spread
• Superfoods Kefir Maca Smoothie
• Kefir Cheese Smoked Salmon Wrap (Probiotic Sushi + Brain Food)
• Probiotic Kefir Tzatziki Dip

More gut-healing fermentation recipes:

• Wild Fermented Salsa
• Pineapple-Turmeric-Ginger Probiotic Sauerkraut
• Homemade Fermented Sauerkraut /w Caraway Seeds
• Fermented Pickles /w Green Tea and Dill Flowers
• 11 Important Things to Know for a Successful Kombucha Brew
• Kombucha Carbonation and Flavouring Tips: The Second Fermentation

Will Freezing Destroy Probiotics in Kefir?

Here is why I am confident that the freezing of the milk kefir ice cream will not kill off all the probiotic bacteria and yeast.

Perhaps you are aware that milk kefir grains can be stored in freezer for months of time when not used. Although I have not done this myself, the fact that many others have used this method to store unused milk kefir grains and successfully revived their milk kefir grains from dormancy after a storage period in the freezer is a strong proof that the probiotic bacteria and yeast can survive freezing temperature.

Milk kefir grains require a balance of various bacteria and yeast working together to produce delicious kefir. So the milk kefir grains that have survived months of freezer storage must have multiple strains of bacteria and yeast kept alive.

There are so many good microbes in the milk kefir. When frozen, the probiotic counts will slowly decline. As for making kefir ice cream, we are talking about a few hours to days of freezing instead of months in storage. We should still be left with plenty of good bacteria and yeast in the kefir ice cream.

Tips on Making Ice Cream without Ice Cream Maker

Making ice cream with an ice cream maker would be straight-forward.  However, I made mine without one and I wanted a recipe and method that can produce fairly good results even without the use of an ice cream machine.

First we must understand that the purpose of the ice cream maker is to add more air and break up the ice crystals while the ice cream is going through the freezing process. The less ice crystals that will form, the more smooth the ice cream will taste. Therefore, without the use of an ice cream maker, it helps if we can break up the ice crystals with other means, such as a blender, when the ice cream is partially frozen.

In addition, the higher the fat contents, the lower the water contents in the ice cream, the less easily the ice crystals will form. If you don’t want to blend the ice cream with a blender while freezing is happening, at the minimum you can re-mix with a specula, or you can compensate by increasing the fat content of your ice cream recipe. In this recipe, the fat content can be raised by increasing the ratio of the heavy cream to whole milk.

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Mango Kefir Ice Cream w/o Ice Cream Maker

You will love this mango kefir ice cream for the probiotic benefits. If you are looking for a summer dessert to make with your milk kefir grains, this mango kefir ice cream is a tasty treat and uses only 4 ingredients. Mango and kefir are a perfect match in flavour. I will show you some tips for achieving the best results without an ice cream maker.

4.84 from 6 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 quarts

Calories: 2440kcal

Author: Yang

Ingredients

• 2 cup organic whole milk
• 2 cup organic heavy cream
• 4 cup frozen mango
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 2 tsp milk kefir grains

Instructions

• Place the milk kefir grains in the mixture of whole milk and heavy cream. Cover the jar with a lid or cloth. I use a lid as I like to shake the jar a few times during fermentation to allow the bacteria and yeast to evenly distribute. 
• Ferment for 12 -24 hours until the milk and heavy cream just turn creamy like a yogurt, but before separating into whey and curd. The fermentation time may vary, depending on the temperature and amount of ingredients used.
• Remove the milk kefir grains. If the fermented milk and heavy cream have separated into whey and curd, it is still ok to use. They will be blended together in the next step.
• Combine the milk and cream kefir finished in the last step, frozen mango, and honey together. Blend until smooth with a blender or food processor. 
• If you have an ice cream maker, pour the mixture into the ice cream maker to make ice cream. If not, pour the mixture in a pre-chilled container and place in the freezer. Every hour or so, re-mix the ice cream contents with a spatula, or even better re-blend with a blender for a couple times when the ice cream is partially frozen.
• In about 5-6 hours in the freezer, the ice cream should be ready. 

Notes

1. Calorie calculation is based on the full recipe.
2. See blog post for more tips on making ice cream without an ice cream maker.
3. See video instruction.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 2440kcal

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