26 replies to this topic

[dcarch]

Spinning off from the other mango thread.

Mangoes are heavenly. Except opening one can be messy and slippery, especially ripe ones.

How do you do it?

dcarch

[emannths]

If I want chunks/cubes to eat, I use a vegetable peeler and then cut the flesh off the pit, like this. If I just need the flesh for a smoothie or something where shape doesn't matter, I first cut the lobes off the pit, then scoop the flesh out of the skin with a spoon.

[jackal10]

Cut in half either side of the flat stone
Score the flesh both ways into 1cm cubes
Press in the middle of the skin side - Sort of turn it inside out, so the skin is concave instead of convex
Pick off the cubes

[MelissaH]

Both emannths and jackal10 describe what I do. But I'll add that after we cut off the cheeks and then take off the prime meridian/international date line, what's left on the pit is the cook's treat, to lean over the sink and slurp.

MelissaH

[DanM]

I like the OXO Mango Pitter. It leaves a little on the pit, but a quick chew takes care of that.

[ElsieD]

I agree with Dan. I finally bought one of those and they are a snap to use.

[andiesenji]

I like the OXO Mango Pitter. It leaves a little on the pit, but a quick chew takes care of that.

Me too! I bought the Oxo GG Mango splitter and it did a very fine job until it had an "accident" (The plastic melts if it happens to be on a counter and 'someone' places a pizzelle iron in front of it, plugs it in without noticing that the iron is touching the Oxo item.)
By the time the aroma of melting plastic alerted me, the splitter was a goner.

So I replaced it with the stainless steel model - couple of bucks more, just as easy to use.

And of course, it's a gadget and I love gadgets!

[annachan]

Small ones, I tend to peel it kind of like a banana and go for it. The larger ones, I tend to cut the two sides around the pit. I score the fleshy parts then flip it to get easy access. Then peel the skin of the pit part and eat the flesh attached.

[andiesenji]

You know, I should have remembered, when Fat Guy posted his photo of a grapefruit knife - I have a friend who uses one to dismember mangoes, then scrapes the pit with the serrated edge to recover as much pulp as possible.
She lives in OC (Lake Forest) and has two lovely mango trees that produces lots of huge fruits.
One is in its natural form and the other is espaliered along a 30-foot wall.
One is the commonly seen green/red/yellow variety and the other is a solid golden color, very sweet.

[Jenni]

Depends what kind of mango it is. Mostly in the UK the shops sell Keitt mangoes and even when ripe they are pretty firm so they can be easily peeled and cut up.

However, some of the best Indian mangoes are so soft that carefully organised cutting is impossible and rather pointless anyway. Indeed, there are some varieties which are best massaged gently before making a small hole in the top and slurping.

Basically, my chosen way to eat a (decent, non-keitt) mango is to sit outside among friends and attack a mango sans snife, getting mango juice all over myself and having a very good time.

Edited by Jenni, 22 April 2011 - 03:45 AM.

[Prawncrackers]

Agree with jenni, if you can use an oxo splitter or if you can do the hedgehog technique on your mango, then your mango isn't sweet and ripe enough! With a thin fruit knife and lots of practise you can follow the contours of the pip and leave no flesh at all. Otherwise as jenni says, just go for it and lets the juices flow through your fingers and down your chin.

[prasantrin]

There are also some ideas in this old thread http://forums.egulle..._1#entry1541127

It's really not that hard, even when ripe, especially if you stand them vertically (stem-end pointing up) and slide your knife along the sides. People in SE and S Asia have been doing it for centuries without much difficulty.

[Jaymes]

There are also some ideas in this old thread http://forums.egulle..._1#entry1541127

It's really not that hard, even when ripe, especially if you stand them vertically (stem-end pointing up) and slide your knife along the sides. People in SE and S Asia have been doing it for centuries without much difficulty.

And also in Central America. I've lived in SE Asia, and in Panama, and in both places we had mango trees in our yard, and we ate a lot of them.

I thought that pitter looked great and bought one. Didn't work well for me. First of all, if it's the same one, it's not adjustable in any way, so the mango has to correspond pretty closely in size to the pitter or it doesn't work at all. Which resulted in my having to select the mangoes according to the proper size for the pitter, rather than the ones that looked to be the sweetest. And if the mango is really ripe, pushing down that pitter just mashes the bottom of the mango. Finally tossed the thing.

And, the way I learned to cut mangos back some forty years ago when I lived in the Philippines has held me in pretty good stead all these years. It's also what I saw most folks do in Central America when I lived there.

You just do what others here have described, in that you slice down along the length of the pit on both sides, until you have the two halves (cheeks). Then you score each half into the diamond pattern as described above.

But next time, don't turn it inside out. After it's been scored, get a nice large serving spoon, hold it over whatever you want the mango cubes to wind up on/in (a plate, or bowl, or your fruit salad), and scoop the cubes out with the spoon. The cubes just fall out in a rain of sweet tropical goodness.

Here's a video from those nice folks at mango.org describing the three most popular methods including the spoon approach that I learned so long ago - although for this video, he used the spoon technique to produce mango slices rather than cubes. And, regarding the slices, if you don't cut your slices all the way through at one end, after you scoop it out, you can spread out the slices, which will come out connected at one end, to make a "fan," so beautiful for a nice presentation on your plate.

But trust me, scooping it out with a spoon is also the best (and by far the easiest) way to get the cubes out, too.

Video: How to cut a mango


________________

Edited by Jaymes, 22 April 2011 - 08:29 AM.

[Jaymes]

And now that you've got your mango cut and all ready to eat, why not try sprinkling it with a little of Mexico's famous mixture of dried chiles and salt and lime?

As discussed in this thread.

[Jenni]

Interesting Jaymes - I prefer that mixture on green mangoes, no lime necessary as they are already tart.

[andiesenji]

I think there may be as many ways to peel a mango as there are mango varieties.

There is one technique I saw performed years ago when I was in Mexico for a series of dog shows.

We were having lunch at our hotel and a salad was constructed at the table, using fresh fruits, peeled and cut up by what I could only describe as an artist with food.
The oranges, melons, papaya and etc., were done the standard ways but the mango was a surprise.
He used an extremely thin, long knife, sort of like one of the skinny "tomato" knives, inserted it at the top and apparently cut the flesh free of the pit, then starting at the top, made a spiral cut from top to bottom which produced a long strip of mango, almost an inch wide, which he quickly sliced crossways, leaving the skin intact, then starting at one end, separated the flesh from the peel.
I had never seen this done before and it took him less time to perform this task than it has taken me to write it.
We had breakfast and lunch there several times during our two-week stay and all of us were impressed when we saw this server performing.
None of my friends had ever seen this technique either. I tried to ask him how exactly he did it and he was willing to demonstrate but wouldn't let me try it with his knife.
After I returned home, I did try it numerous times, and even bought a knife I thought would work (didn't) and could never quite figure out the technique.

He also did a bit of a show with a whole pineapple and with green coconuts but I had seen those done before and had a vague idea of how it was done, so didn't pay much attention.

[prasantrin]

But trust me, scooping it out with a spoon is also the best (and by far the easiest) way to get the cubes out, too.

Video: How to cut a mango


________________

I use a spoon, too! The inside-out method is just too messy for me, and you can get closer to the peel with a spoon (less waste, and less itchy tongue from slurping out any extra flesh left on the peel).

I usually don't even bother with the cubes, though, and just eat the mango straight from the peel. A ripe mango is too alluring to waste time with cubing! (As you can tell, in my house fresh mangoes are never used as a garnish or an ingredient. . . just straight eating!)

(An aside, my mother has promised to bring some mangoes from the Philippines back with her in July. She will buy some green ones so they will be ripe by the time she reaches home. Personal importation of mangoes is not verboten in Canada!)

Edited by prasantrin, 22 April 2011 - 01:09 PM.

[dcarch]

Mango season is starting.

Let me share with you my way of peeling/cutting a mango.

What do you think?



dcarch

Edited by dcarch, 22 May 2012 - 05:16 AM.

[weinoo]

I think you've dirtied 2 more kitchen tools than I do when I cut open a mango.

[Jaymes]

And taken twice as long as I do when I cut open a mango.

And my advice would be not to pull that sharp peeler toward your knuckles. I feel pretty sure that, even if you haven't inadvertently scraped a knuckle or two, I definitely would, given the couple-hundred or so mangos I peel each year.

Ouch.

[liuzhou]

What an unnecessary palaver!

It is much easier to remove the fruit from the peel than it is to remove the peel from the fruit.

Your video shows it takes more than 5 minutes! I can deal wth a mango in about 30 seconds. And a lot less washing up.

[dcarch]

Mangoes come in different shapes, sizes, hard and soft. Some mangoes have lots of fiber.

I hate waste. In many areas (here in NYC) mangoes are not cheap.

After looking at all methods and gadgets of peeling AND cutting a mango, I have not found one that works in all the following of my needs:

• Peel all the skin and remove all the meat from the pit with MINIMUM waste.

• Accomplish the above and serve the mango with NO TOUCHING by human hands. I know people who will not eat anything that comes from messy hands.

• Less slippery messy fingers, cutting board and whatever other apparatus you have to use.

I would be very pleased if you can link me to youtube of a method that you feel is better. I have looked around and have not found one.

Or better yet show me one that you have been using that I can learn from.

Thanks.

dcarch

[Jaymes]

Mangoes come in different shapes, sizes, hard and soft. Some mangoes have lots of fiber.

I hate waste. In many areas (here in NYC) mangoes are not cheap.

After looking at all methods and gadgets of peeling AND cutting a mango, I have not found one that works in all the following of my needs:

• Peel all the skin and remove all the meat from the pit with MINIMUM waste.

• Accomplish the above and serve the mango with NO TOUCHING by human hands. I know people who will not eat anything that comes from messy hands.

• Less slippery messy fingers, cutting board and whatever other apparatus you have to use.

I would be very pleased if you can link me to youtube of a method that you feel is better. I have looked around and have not found one.

Or better yet show me one that you have been using that I can learn from.

Thanks.

dcarch

Well, "my" method (as I explained above) (and not really "mine" as I learnt it in SE Asia and Panama and it's the preferred one in most areas of the world where I have lived and where folks eat a LOT of mangoes) fulfills all of your requirements save the fewer slippery fingers because you (I) wind up eating the last remaining flesh from the pit, but you have no slippery fingers at all until that point at the very end.

Other than that, as I said, the cubes of mangos rain down into the bowl, or onto the salad, or atop the pound cake, or ice cream, or whatever you have, without ever being touched. At all. You're clearly touching your mangoes in order to arrange them on your plates. My shower of mango cubes doesn't have to touch anything. They drop straight from the "cheek" into the bowl.

I don't usually even get a cutting board out. Just hold the mango in my hand as I run the knife along the pit. Then set my two "cheeks" down on the counter. Then slurp up the pit while standing over the sink (or set it aside for later). Then toss it. Then crosshatch (or slice, if I want slices rather than cubes) the cheeks. Then get my big spoon. Then scoop out the cubes (or slices) that fall whever it is that I wish them to fall.

Also, sometimes I want a mango "fan," which I achieve by not cutting the slices in the cheek all the way to one of the ends. Then get out my big spoon. Then scoop the "fan" onto the plate, and spread it out. I'm not even sure how you could manage that at all with your method.

And, with the above-mentioned exception of the flesh around the pit that I slurp up myself (which, BTW, I see as a bonus and not a drawback and will continue to do unto my death) my method does dispatch the flesh from the peel cheeks as efficiently as yours. Perhaps more so, since you are removing some flesh with each stroke of your peeler. I scrape that peel really firmly with my big spoon.

Although some of that goes into my mouth as well.

Edited by Jaymes, 22 May 2012 - 12:41 PM.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I'm with Jenni and Jaymes. There are hundreds of types of mangoes, including the little Ambajadores which are not at all fibrous and are clearly nature's drink-boxes and not for cutting at all. They're for squishing 'till they're nice and smoodgy, biting a hole in, and slurping. Look ma, no hands!

However, presented with a Julie, Reina, Keitt, Kent, or Tommy mango (which are firm and varying degrees of fibrous), I do as Jaymes describes - stand it up on its stem end, cut off the cheeks, score, and scoop. The oblique part left on the pit is easy to slice off in a continuous ribbon then cube. This is also a hands off the meat proposition, and uses exactly one knife. Unfortunately for me, mango season here is in the summer (so October-February) and I can't do a video for you until then. This technique is what I use when making mango chutney (which I do, by caseloads of mango, each summer), such that it satisfies the canned goods safety authority that the meat isn't being contaminated.

Like Jaymes, I slurp the pit, which is the first time my hands touch the flesh, and since it's me consuming it, there's no issue with that whatsoever. I know exactly where I've been.

However, if you're concerned about hands touching your food, why not go the simplest direction and wear a pair of Nitrile gloves? Then you can go fast and dirty without the contamination problem.

ETA - this only holds true for ripe mangoes. For green mango, there's a rather ingenious tool that peels and then spiral-cuts the flesh; it's similar to those old cast-iron apple peelers that one sees occasionally in antique shoppes. I'll see if I can get a picture on the street in September or so when the green mangoes start to come in.

Edited by Panaderia Canadiense, 22 May 2012 - 12:12 PM.

[Ashen]

With most mango's I do what most have described here. Sharp knife ,cut cheeks and fingers off the pit, and then just chew anything left on the pit as a treat. I don't normally do the crosshatch and turn inside out and scoop with a spoon jazz though.. I just cut the cheeks into strips resembling the fingers, slash down just to the skin on all strips and fingers, then using the blade of the knife pressed firmly to the cutting board, fillet/skin the strips&fingers like a piece of fish. This is truely low waste, because if you have a sharp semiflexible knife , you can take the skin off without any visible flesh left on it. If you really want speed you can do more than one strip or finger at a time , scoring and skinning.



I do wash all type pretty well though before handling. I am susceptible to whatever it is in mango sap that can lead to a rash. It isn't a bad rash , just a bit of redness and slight tingling burn but enough to get me to wash the outer skin well with a soft bristle brush, and a dab of liquid dish detergent ,then rinsing before cutting into it.

Edited by Ashen, 23 May 2012 - 12:13 AM.

[liuzhou]

I'm with "Jaymes' method", as is everyone I know.

I eat a LOT of mangoes. They grow profusely round here and, in season, are so cheap they are virtually free. There is a mango tree right outside my apartment window, but it belongs to the local cop shop. They guard it. In fact, I think that is the only reason the substation is there!

[Jaymes]

I'm with "Jaymes' method", as is everyone I know.

I eat a LOT of mangoes. They grow profusely round here and, in season, are so cheap they are virtually free. There is a mango tree right outside my apartment window, but it belongs to the local cop shop. They guard it. In fact, I think that is the only reason the substation is there!

We eat a lot of mangoes as well, although not so many as when we had trees in our yard, and when they were ubiquituous at local fruit markets and roadside stands. Now, living in Texas, we buy them at Costco or Sam's.

I admire the novelty of the corkscrew idea, but find it unworkable in practical application.

We're having a backyard party for Memorial Day and on the menu is a big fresh-fruit salad. I'll cut up at least six or seven mangoes to put in. If I had to screw a corkscrew into each one, I'd still be standing here screwing long after my guests had come, eaten, and departed.

Edited by Jaymes, 23 May 2012 - 11:52 AM.