They weren’t ready to be taken off Grandma’s tree (although they will ripen on the counter; she doesn’t have a lot of counterspace). I am not the greatest fan of mangoes, but I eat them in other things and so many people absolutely love them, so I’m doing the entry anyway.
I think I don’t like mango because it leaves me a funny aftertaste–sort of tangy and metallic–in a way that has me licking and sucking the insides of my mouth after it’s already gone like a horse on peanut butter or something. I like the first bite and its sweetness tropicale, but that aftertaste prevents me from eating it alone all that often. But mango’s fruit-tart taste does brighten up quite a few dishes and it makes fantastic salsas and chutneys. Some tropical fruits have a more rustic, peasant kind of cache (like papaya or banana), but others are lucky enough to possess cultural glamour–mango is one of these, so you can use it to instantly and easily elevate a dish: salads are that much more eclectic; vanilla ice-cream gets a boost; your turkey or chicken sandwich gets a welcome change by subbing mango for cranberry relish (spritz a little lime on your mango for this); the humble pancake gets some zing.
Mangoes start off as these tiny green buttons on the tree and develop their gorgeous watercoloring as they grow–but color in this case won’t do much by way of indicating ripeness, so don’t go by looks alone. They should, however, be soft when you eat them (but not rotten, of course). Peel them and cut carefully down the meridian like you would an avocado to avoid the pit. Remove the pit and then cut your mango however you like. And enjoy–chances are you’re not like me and you will.
RECIPE: Papaya Mango Salsa
Filed under: Clean Food Daily, fruit, hawaii, mango, mangoes, tropical fruit
