Sweets and Sugars

We had a couple of hot days recently, which made me go out and look for something cold and vegan to enjoy. I decided to check out Sweets and Sugars across the street from McClatchy High School to see if they had anything interesting.


Oh, my goodness!


Between the fresh fruit, water-based fruit freezes, shaved ice, and aguas frescas, a vegan could be happy there for a long time. I ended up going to Sweets and Sugars three times last week, and here are the goodies I ordered.


First off, I had this beautiful mangonada, and what a flavor explosion it turned out to be! The mango freeze, mango chunks, chamoy (a sauce made from pickled fruit), and chili powder combined brilliantly in this refreshing treat, topped off with a tamarind straw.

When I went back a couple days later, I ordered pretty much the same thing, except with strawberry freeze and strawberries. If anything, this fresada with chamoy was even better than the mangonada.

The pictures on the wall behind the counter at Sweets and Sugars show all kinds of spectacular desserts, so for my third visit, I decided to get the most extravagant-looking one of all -- the piña loca, or crazy pineapple. This is basically a fruit salad served in a hollowed-out pineapple with a scoop of pineapple freeze. In addition to the pineapple, it included watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, jicama, kiwi, and I don't know what all. Chamoy and chili powder were liberally applied, and the whole thing was topped off with tamarind candy ropes. To be honest, it was probably more than one person (me!) should have eaten, but I just couldn't help myself. If you have more willpower than I do, you may want to share your piña loca with a friend.

Sweets and Sugars is located at 3051 Freeport Boulevard, and their phone number is 916-447-5050. They don't appear to have a website, but their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/Sweets-Sugars-ice-cream-150216728520435/. They are open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.