Sourcing Mangoes

[Beachfan]

I love the mangoes in Kauii in June (only available there as far as I know). Have you been to Hawaii and had mangoes there?

Hayden's seem to be my favorite.

[wingding]

The mangoes imported to New York City have gone way downhill over the past few years.I used to be able to get great mangoes in Chinatown,but no more.They are being picked before they are ripe,and are available all year round,but mostly are worthless....one of my favorite fruits too;there's nothing like a juicy mango that gets all over your arms and face when you eat  it.

[ajay]

At least twice during the summer, I visit Toronto, Canada for a mango fix.  The import laws there are much more enlightened and one can easily find the alfonso that all upstanding Indians crave.  Also available are chikoo and sitafur (sic.)--neither of which I can find with any regularty here in New York.

Occasionally we buy the Honduran or other Latin American Mangoes.  When ripe, they are pleasant, but they simply can't match the joy of eating the Alfonsos.

[Suvir Saran]

I also miss the Dussehris, Langdas, Chausas, Ratnagiri and several other mango varieties.  They are all many hundred times better than any I have eaten here or even in Singapore.  Even there the Mangoes available were terrible.  But yes they get Alfonsos there but they are available to the few and elite that have the cartons pre sold to them.

I am also told that Canada gets in a few cases of Alfonsos every year and people there can get a tasting each season.  How lucy they are.  London is the same way.  

We ate a lot of chickoos this time in Bombay.  I love that fruit.  What perfect texture.  In fact at Bachelors in Marine Drive they sell Chickoo Icecream that I often crave and miss.  I can eat Chickoos anytime.  I prefer it over Alfonsos.

And Sitaphal (custard apple), the ones we get here in Chinatown are an apology.  Not much custard mostly all seed and skin.  But at least they make it in.  But I certainly do not spend any time or effort chasing after them.  Since every year I try getting them and again and again they are dissapointing.  But the farmers market in San Francisco has some good fruit in the summer.  Not these fruits we miss, but some of the apricots, apples, peaches and grapes are natural and tasty enough to remind me of fruits found back home.  I love being in SF in the summer for that very reason.  To spend a saturday buying, eating and tasting fruits that are ripe and naturally flavorful and bursting with juices.  So much of the produce we see here is all size and little substance.

But when away from NYC, I miss the great chocolate we can find here.. the cheeses one gets here that never make it back home... or even the varieties of oils and cold cuts etc... so every place has its own bounty.  Oh yes... Corn... that is the best here in America.  No where else have I found better corn. Not to forget the potatoes we get here.

But Mangoes... they just do not seem to be a fruit one can find worth mentioning in the American realm.  While poetry was written after being inspired by tastings of the mangoes in northern India, dismissive missives could be written about the sad mangoes that make their way into the markets here.  

Is there something we egulleteers can do to allow for import of mangoes from India????  Do we have enough weight to make that happen?  Wishful thinking on my part?

How I miss the rotlis with Aamras (paper thin soft rotis, flat breads that are eaten dipped into bowls of mango pulp). It is my favorite part of a Gujerati meal. I am not much of a mango eater.  In fact I became a lover of Indian mangoes only after eating the sorry ones I tasted in the US.  But Alfonso Aamras is divine.  The Turshi (characteristic sweet bitterness that makes an alfonso what it is) of the Alfonsos is what I miss.  That delicate balance between sweet and sour and bitter is magical.  A symphony of flavors that is taken to a heightened level when indulged with the pairing of the smooth and silky vehicle of appreciation, the Rotlis (flat breads made paper thin).

I feel like I am losing it.  I have become like Mirza Ghalib (revered and famous Urdu poet) in my old age.  Getting all sentimental thinking about the Indian mangoes.  But Ghalib I can never be.  His was a genius the world will not see again that easily.  How I wish that someday I can take his poetry and its fine nuances to the reality of every life.  For after that, every life that has been touched by it, will be changed for life with an acutely critical understanding of all things sensuous and beautiful.

[Suvir Saran]

"Aamras" is the hindi word for mango pulp.  Rasa could simply mean essence or even nectar or juice.  

If anyone remembers the meaning to be different please correct me.

[vivin]

There is a Pak/Indian grocery store in Stamford CT that has imported mangoes from Mexico. About 6 wks in the summer (out of the 12 they are available) they are just like the ones I remember from India (in Delhi). These are the normal mid sized variety (not too fibrous) and are perfect. My dad visited last summer and was surprised by the quality. You can walk into the store and the smell hits you. That is when you know they are right. Buy them in boxes of 12 for 7 bucks. I will ask him where he gets them and report back. I saw some the other day. Not there yet.

[Suvir Saran]

Vivin.. you are kidding us right??  I am really very finicky when it comes to mangoes.  I find them too sweet at times and too bland at others.  But I will wait to taste these.  Maybe I can get the number for this store in Stamford and I can ask them to ship me a case when he gets them in.  Thanks for sharing this with us.

[momike]

Have just started to get into mangos, as Whole Foods Supermarket just opened in Toronto. Any recipes for mango preserves would be greatly appreciated, never really got into before as the quality in my local store was pretty pathetic.

[Suvir Saran]

We make mango pickles with green unripe Indian mangoes.  Is that what you are getting in Toronto?  

If so please let me know.. and I will ask for a recipe from my mother.  I have never seen good green mangoes in NYC so I have not even bothered getting a recipe yet.

[Liza]

Suvir, I won't pretend to be nearly as mango-knowledgable as you are, but I've been pleased recently with the mangoes at the Chelsea Market's Manhattan Fruit and Vegetable store. They do a large wholesale business with restaurants and have been exploring a lot of tropical fruit lately (it's the only place I've seen Mamay's, for instance). Perhaps worth a look?

[Suvir Saran]

I will be there tomorrow or Friday.  Thanks Liza.

Have you seen unripe green mangoes as well?

Thanks for the find... cannot wait to sample these mangoes....

[Vikram]

As a slight diversion from these smelly issues, even if Indian food can leave overpowering smells, perhaps it could be forgiven because the country has also produced another overpowering aroma that no one could object to. I went to Crawford Market in my lunch break and the sheds on the side were full of guys unpacking the crates of Alphonso mangoes that had come fresh from the Konkan. The smell inside, at noon on a hot Bombay summer's day was almost intoxicating - a huge hot sweet aroma of mangoes and the hay they were packed in. I was trying to resist buying alphonsoes on grounds of general poverty, but one whiff and I'd bought six!

Vikram

[bhelpuri]

The smell inside, at noon on a hot Bombay summer's day was almost intoxicating - a huge hot sweet aroma of mangoes and the hay they were packed in.

You lucky, lucky, man.

(weeping softly)

[tryska]

here's a question I have?

I've eaten mangoes all over the world from when i was a baby.

When we lived in new york my folks would get cases of mangoes from the local asian grocery, which i believe came from Mexico.

One day when i was about 17 or 18, i ate one of these mangoes in the usual way, and my lips swoll up and were very itchy. Since then i haven't bene able to eat mangoes unless i score all the flesh off the skin, and take good care to wash my mouth with soap as soon as i am finished.

I understand that this is linked to poison ivy allergy, but i've nbever actually had poison ivy contact.

do y'all think i would get the same reaction from eastern mangoes as i do from western mangoes? do you hear of people getting allergies to mangoes back home?

[Episure]

Abbe saale is right :)

here i've been rushing to local indian stores every week, but so far they've always

been sold out, and there are only the bruised and bashed reject mangos

lying forlornly in cartons, and a fragrance lingering in the air, leading

straight to severe nostalgia, depression, and a desire to relocate immediately to

whatever imaginary part of india where one's happy childhood was located,

and live in a tile-roof bungalow with a deep, cool, front verandah,

an aam-thope across the dusty road,

every long droning summer afternoon,

spend on the verandah on a swing, the brain fever bird

dinning into your ears, and watching the horizon

for the heavy slateblue monsoon clouds.

of course, the fantasy includes someone else to make and deliver

endless mango fools, aam ras, aam ka panna, thenga-manga-pattaani-sundal,

mango kalan, and other delicacies, while one sits on the said

swing with a never ending supply of suitable reading, and a sense

of endless time.

every sticky night, end dinner with slices of different varieties of mangoes

to contrast the flavors and bouquets, then go out and have a moonlight

dip in the borewell tank to wash it all off, listening to the cicada concert.

then do the same again the next day.

instead i'm here beating on this defenseless computer,

to avoid beating myself on my stupid head that brought

me to this sorry state.....

request: can people share their favorite mango-related

writings, poetry, music, movie scenes, any such thing at all?

please provide lenghy quotations, links, clips, whatever you can.....

whether deeply traditional from the dawn of indus valley time

or immediately contemporary?

thanks in advance

milagai

(now wishing e-name was maangai)

where can i find a mango-shaped emoticon?

Sniff....if I didn't have a dozen mangos waiting in my fridge, I'd be weeping with you.

[Milagai]

episure: if i hadn't been raised right, i would wish a mango-rash

on you immediately :)

bhelpuri: refuse to speak for yourself.

tryska: mangoes are widely reputed as likely to give

you rashes, allergies, acne, you name it.

According to indian medical traditions, they heat the body too much.

milagai

[mongo_jones]

Mongo, apologies, but I'm curious, is it really that hard to get good mangoes outside India?

Anyway, that point apart, how good or bad are the mangos you get where you live?

Vikram

vikram,

bhelpuri has filled you in on the sad story of our exile from mango-heaven here in babylon. i smile a bitter smile every time someone who has never eaten indian mangoes raves about mangoes in the u.s: you who have never seen the moon, i say to myself, how exciting it is for you to see a frisbee sail through the night sky.

however, it is possible to get fairly good filipino mangoes--tiny, orange things with small seeds (not entirely unlike our daseri). in los angeles these were available at the farmer's market (the branded one on fairfax and third), and i've heard rumors that there are places in denver as well where they can occasionally be found. i've also heard tell, or read in a novel, that jamaican mangoes are very good too--but that the ones that make it to the u.s aren't good at all (this is reported in michelle cliff's 80s novel Abeng).

now, if the united fruit company owned a bunch of mango plantations in india you can be sure the fda might change its tune...

mongo

[memesuze]

I developed an allergy to mangoes last year after a week-long orgy of too cheap mangoes led me to have two a day with the juice dripping down my chin as I turned the skins inside out to get the last bits. Foodie 52 told me that some of the Central Market produce handlers can't touch the whole fruits without latex gloves. I recently had a minor outbreak after sampling some slices at CM. Now I'll have to experiment with carefully placing the slice in my mouth without allowing the juice to smear my lips. Wonder why the allergy only shows up on my face - not inside my mouth?

Tryska,does mango sorbet affect you in the same manner as fresh mango?

[mongo_jones]

i believe that those who have developed allergic reactions to mangoes are being punished by whatever divinity (or television personality) they worship. penance may help, and may take the form of sending me money, or even better, smuggling me a case of assorted langdas, daseris and alphonsos.

[bong]

One day when i was about 17 or 18, i ate one of these mangoes in the usual way, and my lips swoll up and were very itchy.  Since then i haven't bene able to eat mangoes unless i score all the flesh off the skin, and take good care to wash my mouth with soap as soon as i am finished.

Kidding aside, I have seen other people having the same allergic reaction you are talking about.

Some mangoes have this sticky secretion which oozes out from the stem end. I am not sure, but I think that secretion is actually what causes the allergic reaction.

What would I not give for a ripe Langra.

I hear the mango bounty in Bengal this year as well as the last has been especially good.

[deliad]

Mango is so good that it should be called Khaas (Special) rather than Aam (regular).

Talking about mangoes also reminds me of a very good scene from the old Mirza Ghalib movie (Bharat Bhushan one) where he is eating a bunch of mangoes with a bunch of guys and this guy who does not like Ghalib says "Yeh to gadhe bhi nahin khaate" (Even donkeys don't eat it).. As to which Ghalib replies "Haan, sirf gadhe hi nahi khaate" (Yes, only donkeys don't eat it)

As Bhelpuri mentioned, due to FDA rules, we do not get Alphonsos in USA. However I have seen and used mango pulp cans some of which say Alphonso. I do not remember the brand right now but will check next time at my local desi store.

The 2 things that we have tried with with those are Mango Pie and Mango Lassi. Yum Yum Yum!!!

[mongo_jones]

Mango is so good that it should be called Khaas (Special) rather than Aam (regular).

Talking about mangoes also reminds me of a very good scene from the old Mirza Ghalib movie (Bharat Bhushan one) where he is eating a bunch of mangoes with a bunch of guys and this guy who does not like Ghalib says "Yeh to gadhe bhi nahin khaate" (Even donkeys don't eat it).. As to which Ghalib replies "Haan, sirf gadhe hi nahi khaate" (Yes, only donkeys don't eat it)

As Bhelpuri mentioned, due to FDA rules, we do not get Alphonsos in USA. However I have seen and used mango pulp cans some of which say Alphonso. I do not remember the brand right now but will check next time at my local desi store.

The 2 things that we have tried with with those are Mango Pie and Mango Lassi. Yum Yum Yum!!!

i am one of those people who believes that mangoes are best eaten by themselves. while i am not opposed to mango sorbet (still pure mango), i am not a fan of mango lassis, pies etc.

god, i'm flashing back to my boarding school days and school-sanctioned mango eating contests. i believe the winners regularly went through 30-35 at a time. the most i ever managed was about 15. even the terrible stomach-upsets (rendered even more terrifying by the monstrous toilets in water-scarce darjeeling) were worth it.

[deliad]

i am one of those people who believes that mangoes are best eaten by themselves. while i am not opposed to mango sorbet (still pure mango), i am not a fan of mango lassis, pies etc.

Mongo,

I agree, but will add that you must eat by hands to enhance the taste. The south American variety just does'nt cut it.

We need Chausa, Dusheheri, Langda, Alphonso, Sunehri..... here... now!!!

[mongo_jones]

yes, the only civilized way to eat a mango is to grab it with both hands, rip the skin off the narrower end off with your teeth and squeeze the flesh and juice into your mouth, pausing only to wipe drippings off your chin and lips and to lick your hands. if you aren't yet at this phase of evolution you may be satisfied with cutting a mango into 3 pieces--one slice on either side of the seed (aanthi, in bengali) and the seed itself with some flesh attached. if you are an indian and go in for peeling and dicing of mangoes into dainty little cubes, well then you need some re-education therapy.

[Rhea_S]

A Ugandan co-worker eats mangoes with the peel. Bites into them like an apple. How common is it to eat mango peel?