I’m seated at the Gastronomy panel at Africa’s Travel Indaba in Durban, where three South African chefs are passionately unwrapping the magic of African flavours.
Midway through, Chef Wandile Mabaso, the founder of Les Créatifs Restaurant in Johannesburg, shares about pushing boundaries and crafting new flavour profiles rooted in African heritage. Then he drops it: ‘like the sorghum ice cream we created.’ The room gasps.
Eyes widen. Did he just say sorghum... ice cream? While the crowd marvels, I'm already plotting my next move. If I can't get a spoonful, I'll get the story. And that's exactly what happened.
“Growing up, sorghum was often fermented in my culture — and the smell completely put me off,” he shares when I ask how he got into the business.
But in 2022, he began reimagining how sorghum could be prepared in a way he would actually enjoy.
“I started understanding its flavours — and realised that after fermentation, it gives off a funky smell,” he explains. “So, I began thinking about how to balance that with citrus, lemongrass, and other Southeast Asian flavours.”
To make the ice cream, chef Mabaso ferments the sorghum for about a week and a half then cooks it with lemongrass, lime leaves, ginger, and simple syrup.
“Once it’s cooked — you’ll know by its soft texture — we then thin it down, and that becomes our base flavour. Then we go through the normal steps of making ice cream using egg yolk, sugar, vanilla, and Madagascar vanilla. We combine and blend everything together. You almost fold it into the ice cream before freezing it. Then you keep tasting to check the balance. Finally, we finish with a touch of fresh lime, as that adds acidity and balances the funkiness of the sorghum.”
The mixture is then placed in an ice cream machine. As it freezes, it continues to evolve and churn. Eventually, when fully frozen it becomes rich, smooth, and full of flavour that melts in the mouth.
Chef Wandile Mabaso, founder of Les Créatifs Restaurant and creator of the sorghum ice cream.
Photo credit: Pool
Should this ice cream be served with toppings, or eaten plain?
“The ice cream isn't meant to be eaten on its own. It is a component of the mopitlwe (which means March in Setswana) dessert. It’s one of the months that mabele (sorghum meal) is harvested and ting (traditional fermented sorghum porridge) is consumed,” he says.
He adds: “We serve the mopitlwe with a gooseberry and citrus layer, sorghum Chantilly, smoked mabele, and a passion fruit parfait,” he explains.
During the two months it featured on the menu, Chef Mabaso says diners were not only intrigued but also deeply connected with the dish.
“The initial reaction was quite positive. Some diners were not so sure if it is actually sorghum in the dessert. They had never tried it in this form,” he shares.
There are a lot of stories from diners, mainly those that come from the North western areas of South Africa. Most remember eating ting or having sorghum brew.
Kenosi Malebye, the Executive Pastry Chef at Les Créatifs Restaurant says, "Customers were intrigued. Some very sceptical but I think everyone was curious to try and see how that would work. We had a client in tears saying it reminded her of grandma, a sense of nostalgia.”
