Azucar ice cream combines worldly flavors

July 5, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Making ice cream takes special skill. But in the Little Village neighborhood, the ice cream and sorbet at azucar - which means sugar - is all together different, since the flavors are inspired by the owner's upbringing in Cuernavaca Morelos, Mexico.

"I have guava. Limon. It's very good, it's real, real limon," said owner Angel Garcia. "The elotes is the more popular, is delicious and it's very good. Very good."

That would be corn, and he's right, it's delicious. There are more than two dozen exotic, Mexican-influenced flavors here, and many of them require extra effort to source the right ingredients.

"It's difficult, especially guanabana and guava and sometimes mango, because the mango is very good, the Mexican mango," said Garcia.

To achieve this, they first peel and chop a ton of Mexican mangoes. Then they're blended with water and a course, granulated Mexican sugar. The mixture is poured into an ice cream maker, where it chills and agitates for about 10 minutes. As it comes out, it's combined with a lime juice and chile mixture, then alternately layered with the sorbet and more lime-chile flavoring, lending every spoonful a dose of sweet and heat.

They also churn out flavors like sangria and guava.. plus, they offer two refreshing drinks each day, like cinnamon-flecked horchata or a sweet hibiscus called jamaica. But when it comes to flavors, Garcia has his favorites.

"The Mexican mango is, of course, the best," he said.

Azucar
3617 W. 27th St.

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