Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

CALAMANSI & MANGO SORBET

“Limited supply”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/calamansi-mango-sorbet-077035

“Combining the bracingly bright and tart tones of Calamansi (a lime-like citrus fruit native to the Philippines) with the lush, tropical flavors of Mango (the national fruit of the Philippines, no less!), each spoonful of this seasonal Sorbet is beautifully balanced between its sweet and sour elements.” – Trader Joe’s

Calamansi is a citrus that looks like a cross between a lime, lemon and orange. It’s a “national fruit” of the Phillipines, and commonly used in Filipino dishes… Its taste is very distinctive, I’ve read.

While I’ve heard of calamansi before, mostly related to Filipino recipes where it is sometimes called for, I am pretty sure I ever tasted it.

Now I happen to love lemon sorbet and lemon ices so I was looking forward to trying this new Calamansi sorbet I read about, thinking it might be a little similar. My honest review of the new Calamansi sorbet; I think this one is going to be something you either like or don’t like with not too much in the middle. “Bracingly bright and tart”. That it is. Personally I didn’t go for the taste of this. I found the calamansi flavor way too bracinly bright and tart for my taste buds. And the Mango? It lists, “calamansi puree” followed by “mango puree” but the calamansi seems to overpower any mango taste in this. I could not really taste the “mango” in this and l love mango. I think they could have balanced the flavors a bit more, using a bit less calamansi.

Just to get a second opinion on this sorbet I had my wife taste it, and her reaction was the same as mine, she didn’t care for the taste of calamansi and also said she couldn’t taste the mango.

I am guessing is people who are unfamiliar with calamansi (like the two of us) may not be crazy about this, however if they do know and like calamansi they might? Or maybe you will find it very refreshing in the summertime as one reader who does like this sorbet suggested!

If you are game to try this, please report back what you think.