Food Guy: Los Mangos paleteria

The papayas are as fresh as the mangos at the appropriately named Los Mangos – an ice cream and paleta shop with five locations in the city plus Cicero, Crest Hill and Aurora. And fresh is crucial when making paletas.

“Always fresh fruit, fresh ingredients; quality product is really what makes the paleta,” said Eric Gutierrez, co-owner of Mixoacana Paleteria

They make about two dozen water-based, nearly 30 milk-based. One of them is fresa, or strawberry. “We basically make a milkshake out of those strawberries,” said Gutierrez.

Once pureed, the mixture is poured into steel molds; then wooden handles are plunged through whole strawberries and then set into the molds. To quickly freeze, the molds are submerged in Glycol, sort of like a food grade anti-freeze, for about 20 minutes.

“So it won’t freeze, but it will go really low in temperature, to like negative 20 degrees,” he said.

They’re released into a holding bin, then quickly placed into the packing machine so they can be boxed and shipped.

“It has to go from the cold liquid straight to the packaging machine and right to the freezer so it can maintain its form,” he said.

Another great milk-based option is the cookies and cream. Or the pistachio.

“You get that strong pistachio flavor; we add almonds to it – it’s really an amazing bar. We also do banana-Nutella. We fill the middle of the bar with Nutella, which turns into a chocolate bar, so you’re biting into the banana and you’re biting into the Nutella-chocolate bar, it’s pretty amazing,” said Gutierrez.

On the water-based side, watermelon with lime is fantastic; so is the limón, which is all lime. The house special is the Mangonada.

“Mango with chamoy and tajin – it’s really spicy, really sweet,” he said.

Whichever you choose, it’s an inexpensive treat not just in summertime, but all year long.

“It’s an easy snack to buy and take home,” said Gutierrez.

Los Mangos

3551 W. 26th St.773-277-7300

5758 S. Pulaski773-735-4402

5923 W. 63rd St.773-498-6277

3859 W. 26th St.773-277-8944

5915 S. Kedzie Ave.773-918-0198

5706 W. Cermak Rd., Cicero708-683-6266

333 E. Indian Trail Rd., Aurora630-340-3968170 1 N. Larkin Ave., Crest Hill815-630-2611