MANGO POPS (with a HIT of CAYENNE SALT)

When mangoes are in season, I can’t get enough of them. I often buy them by the trayful, so apart from eating them without ceremony standing over the kitchen sink to catch the juices, I’ll often turn them into popsicles like these. The cayenne salt adds a grown-up kick and unexpected flavour, which is extremely more-ish.

Preparation Time 10 minutes, plus freezing | Cooking Time less than 1 minute | Makes 8 pops

160 g (5½ oz/²/₃ cup) caster (superfine) sugar

3 ripe mangoes

80 ml (2½ fl oz/¹/₃ cup) freshly squeezed lime juice, plus lime wedges to serve

CAYENNE SALT

2 teaspoons sea salt flakes

2 teaspoons caster (superfine) sugar

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

Combine the sugar and 170 ml (5½ fl oz/²/₃ cup) water in a saucepan over a medium–high heat, stir to dissolve, then bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Cut the cheeks off the mangoes and use a large metal spoon to scoop the flesh out of the cheeks. Cut off as much flesh as you can from around the seeds too. Coarsely chop the flesh and process the mango and lime juice in a food processor until smooth, then add sugar syrup to taste (you may not need it all, depending on the sweetness of the mango) and process to combine.

Pour into popsicle moulds, freeze for about an hour until half-frozen, then insert sticks and freeze for about 2 hours until frozen through. The pops will keep at this stage for up to a month. To un-mould, dip the moulds in hot water, wiggle the pops to loosen, then remove from the moulds and place on a tray lined with baking paper, returning to the freezer until frozen firm again. Store the pops in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

For the cayenne salt, combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Dip the pops in cayenne salt to serve and squeeze over extra lime wedges, if you like.