This smoothie is BRINGING the mango and coconut in such a delicious and awesome way. And I speak as someone who until recently was so traumatised by childhood experience that she couldn’t even look at a mango. You see when I was little there were two HUGE mango trees in my backyard. We even had a little green platform built into the branches of one of them, where my sister and I would dress up and play Ewoks.
When summer rolled around they would grow mountains of mangoes, an absolutely bumper crop every year. And every summer, hoards of bats would fly out of the hills near our house (I live 15 minutes outside of the city centre, by the way #Australia) and completely decimate the mango crop. Between the bats and the possums, I don’t think a single mango ever survived in tact. They were just left there, dangling with giant bat-bites and possum-pieces nibbled out of them.
And what happens to a half-eaten mango? Why it drops to the ground eventually. And what happens once the 50 or so mangoes drop to the ground and sit there for a few days? Well friends, they rot. And that’s when everyone in the family is recruited to come out and put a plastic bag over their hand, and start picking up stinking, rotten, half-eaten mangoes in the muggy, humid Brisbane mid-summer heat. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to eat mangoes after that experience either. Is it any wonder it’s taken me 20 years to get over it? Anyway, sadly those two beautiful trees died and are no longer in the yard, and maybe it’s in their memory that I have finally come around to loving mangoes. Particularly when the sweet fruitiness of the mango is paired with the rich, fragrant roundness of coconut.
This smoothie combines delicious coconut yogurt, luscious fresh mango (or frozen would work well) and a splash of coconut milk, or almond milk worlks well too. I love the single-focus of only using mangoes here, but some favourite variations of mine include throwing in a big handful of spinach! I know, I know, green smoothies so played out, but you really can’t taste it and it’s so good for you! Otherwise, a little passionfruit pulp is absolutely heavenly.
Anyway, enjoy this mango monster smoothie! And here’s to enjoying mangoes for many years to come. RIP beautiful mango trees.
xx Sarah.
- 1 cup ice
- 1 cup of fresh or frozen mango pieces (about 1 large mango)
- ⅓ cup coconut yoghurt
- ⅓ cup coconut milk or almond milk
- optional: squeeze of lime juice
- Place the ingredients into a blender in the order that they are listed. Blend until completely smooth and a beautiful yellow colour - enjoy!
i’m so glad you finally came around to mangoes because they are so amazing!! this reminds me of mango lassi (like an indian mango milkshake), and now i’m craving indian food something fierce.
LOVE this story, so hilarious and I had this amazing picture in my head of the aftermath of the mangoes dropping from the trees. Love it. I’m liking possums and bats better than wasps though, which were what used to eat all the beautiful plums from the tree in my childhood backyard!!!
Bats and possums and wasps! I don’t know which one is worst – although the possums are pretty cute it has to be said.
xx
So when I saw on instagram that you dislike mangoes, I came on here to give you a hard time, but now that i’ve read your story I totally understand. Growing up, it was my job to pick up the rotting peaches and plums from the base of our tree, and I’m with you–rotting fruit in the summer is FOUL. I am lucky I can still look a peach in the eye. So glad that you overcame your aversion to make this smoothie, though, because it sounds fab!
You’re not alone! Mangoes seem totally beloved by almost everyone else on the planet – hating them was not a popular choice. But it’s nice to know other kids were subjected to torture by rotting fruit cleanup!
xx
Sarah! I’m so glad I’m not alone with being a jane-come-lately to mangoes! It’s always been the slipperiness of mangoes that got to me. Until my parents planted a mango tree a few years ago and my Mum started making me the best mango smoothies for weekend breakfasts. OMG. So, obviously I need to send this recipe to her for the next time I go to visit because I hear that their tree is in bloom right now…
Oh man. I can imagine how gross that must of been. I love mangos, but they do have a weird slippery quality that I can imagine gets even more weird as they rot. Eeeek. Although, I’m still uber jealous of your big mango trees. It would be a treat to have those growing here!
Just gave this a go after a long run… So refreshing!
In Australia we have a brand that does a combo of coconut and almond milk so that made it nice and creamy. Perfect for Spring and Summer.
Only stumbled across your blog this week – I am sure I will be sampling lots of your goodies in the future :)