Paletas de Fruta

Name: Paletas de Fruta
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: Pineapple; Caster sugar; Fat-free Greek yoghurt; Lime juice

Paletas de Fruta, plated as one serving.

77 kcal a serving, against 132 for the traditional version. That is 55 kcal off, or 42%, with 4.3g of protein. Serves 8. 20 minutes plus freezing.

What the traditional version is

A straightforward blend of fresh pineapple, water, lime juice and a massive amount of caster sugar. The fruit is pureed until perfectly smooth. The mixture is then poured into plastic moulds and frozen until solid. The incredibly high sugar content keeps the ice crystals tiny, which guarantees the texture stays soft and easy to bite through.

What changed, and what each change costs

200g of sugar reduced to 40g, and 300g of fat-free Greek yoghurt added to the mix

Fruit alone has almost zero protein, and the traditional sugar brings nothing but empty carbohydrates to the party. Cutting the sugar slashes the energy load significantly. Adding the thick yoghurt builds the physical structure back up without relying on sugar, and it brings a solid dose of dairy protein to the pudding.

What it costs you. You end up with a creamy pineapple pop. The version that's a sharp, clear fruit lolly anymore is still out there and still better. You lose that piercing, icy refreshment you get on a boiling hot day. The yoghurt also naturally dulls the vibrant pineapple flavour, which is the first compromise you'll notice. You have to accept a completely different style of pudding, trading a water-based ice for a dairy-based one.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Pineapple
Caster sugar
Fat-free Greek yoghurt
Lime juice

How it starts

Peel your fresh pineapple and chop the yellow flesh into rough chunks.
Put the pineapple chunks, fat-free Greek yoghurt, caster sugar and fresh lime juice into a food processor or a powerful blender.
Taste the liquid mixture.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Mexican.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	132	77
Protein	0.4g	4.3g
Fat	0.1g	0.2g
Saturated fat	0g	0g
Carbohydrate	34.4g	15.7g
Protein per 100 kcal	0.3g	5.5g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Mexican prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. milk.

The method is in the book

This is a fantastic frozen pudding. You get a dense, creamy bite instead of a sugary, icy shatter. The sharp pineapple still punches through the dairy, and the lime juice keeps the whole thing interesting. It works brilliantly as an everyday pudding when you want something cold. Just understand that you're making a deliberate trade. You sacrifice the pure, crystalline refreshment of a traditional Mexican fruit paleta for a softer, dairy-based alternative. It tastes great, but the texture is entirely different.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Mexican, along with 56 more. Buy the paperback