by Chef Justin Timineri Florida's Culinary Ambassador

They are delicious, beautiful and oh, so good for you. Florida’s tropical fruits provide all the color, shapes and textures to make exciting and flavorful meals while providing good nutrition. Their use goes back hundreds of years, not only as food, but as decoration and compliment to any meal. This versatility makes Florida tropical fruit a hot commodity worldwide. Whether you’re using the juice to make smoothies, sauces and deserts or the flesh to add to salads, salsas and sorbets, you can always count on Florida’s tropical fruits to be the centerpiece of any table.

In addition to taste, Florida’s tropical fruits offer protective and regenerative properties. Nothing’s better than getting your vitamins, antioxidants, lycopene and folate all folded up into a beautifully delicious and satisfying treat. With warm oceans surrounding the southern tip of Florida, tropical climates make it possible for us to produce fruits that are not able to be grown anywhere else in the continental United States. The month of August is extremely plentiful with tropical fruits such as banana, carambola, guava, longan, mango, papaya and passion fruit.

With so many choices in the supermarket today, it’s good to know you can bring home something Fresh from Florida.

TROPICAL MANGO SORBET

4 ripe Florida mangos
1 cup simple syrup
3 Tbsp. Florida lime juice

Wash and dry mangoes. Using a paring knife, remove the two flat sides of each mango, cutting lengthwise alongside the pit and cutting as close to the pit as possible so that the mango flesh is in two large pieces. With a spoon, gently scoop flesh from the mango sides into a blender, leaving the skins intact. With a knife, trim the remaining flesh from the pit and add it to the blender. Combine the syrup with lime juice and add to the blender; purée until smooth. Put mango skins on a baking sheet and freeze while making the sorbet.

Freeze the mango purée in an ice-cream maker. Scoop the sorbet into frozen martini glass; garnish with fresh mint, mango skins and sliced strawberries. Frozen sorbets in glasses may be wrapped individually in plastic wrap and kept in the freezer for one week.

akes 6 servings

SIMPLE SYRUP

This recipe is used to prepare almost any kind of sorbet

3 cups sugar
3 cups water

(to flavor with lemongrass, add 1 cup of smashed and chopped lemongrass )

In a saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil, (add lemongrass) stirring continuously. Boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour through a fine mesh strainer to remove any debris. Cool the syrup completely. Syrup may be made one week ahead, left chilled and covered.

FLORIDA TROPICAL FRUIT SALAD WITH LEMONGRASS SIMPLE SYRUP

2 Florida mangoes
1 pineapple
1 Florida papaya
3 Florida oranges
1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1 pint Florida strawberries
2 Florida carambolas
1 small bunch fresh mint leafs
1⁄4 cup lemongrass syrup
2 lemons sliced

Peel and cut mangoes, pineapple, papaya, oranges, carambola and strawberres into bite-size pieces; store in mixing bowl. Finely chop half of the mint, add the mint and the coconut to the fruit , and toss with 1⁄4 cup of lemongrass syrup or to taste. Garnish with the remainder of mint leaf and lemon slices. Serve chilled.

Makes 12 servings.