This super easy and creamy vegan ice cream is made of canistel, passionfruit, and coconut cream. Canistel, also called eggfruit or chesa, is a super underappreciated source of deliciousness. Canistel are meant to be extremely nutritious and have been purported to lower the risk of diabetes, boost immunity, and be good for your eyes (lots of vitamin A). It is also strangely high in iron, which makes it a great choice for vegetarians and vegans. I used the canistels from my neighbour and passionfruit from my garden for this vegan ice cream ๐
At first glance, the eggfruit looks very much like a mango. But when you hold the fruit, you will realise that it is very heavy and hard.ย Eggfruit is usually harvested before it is ripe. If you give your eggfruit a squeeze and there is no give, it needs to sit out in the sun. In my experience, it takes a good five days to ripen an eggfruit. The perfect eggfruit should feel like a ripe avocado or banana, so a little bit squishy. Do not attempt to make this ice cream with unripe eggfruit about it is not only hard as a rock but also sticky as hell. Repeat after me: Unripe eggfruit ruins knives.
The toughest part of this recipe is probably waiting for the canistel to ripen. After that, it’s just a matter of blending.ย Then comes the freezing part. Make sure you stir the ice cream vigorously every two hours to break up the ice crystals. Do this about three times and you’re set. Honestly, I’ve eaten this without stirring the ice cream because I’m very lazy. It still tastes outrageously good, the texture just won’t be as creamy or consistent.
Ingredients
Instructions
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These are your lovely canistel or eggfruits. Most likely they are not ripe when you get them.
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This is a ripe canistel after 4 days of suntan. Note the wrinkles and darker patches.
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Skin the ripe canistels like a mango and remove the seeds.
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Place all the ingredients in the blender and blend until well mixed.
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The result should look like this! Put into a freeze-safe container and into the freezer.
- Mix the ice cream vigorously every two hours about three times, just to break up the ice crystals.
- Remove from freezer to room temperature 15 minutes before serving. (Depends how hot it is where you are.)
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Serve with more passionfruit pulp and/or desiccated coconut.
For the very first time in the 35 years of my life, I got my hands on an egg fruit and was honestly, disgusted by it. Jackfruits and durians are better! But, a random Google search led me to your recipe and I have made everyone around me ask for more of this frozen dessert! Thanks a lot!
Great to hear that Suma! Egg fruit is definitely not great by itself haha but it’s a fantastic base to create another dessert!