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Sourcing Mangoes

Beachfan

By Beachfan
in Kitchen Consumer

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mongo_jones

mongo_jones

Posted
Posted

nessa,

leave the mango to ripen outside the fridge next time (folk wisdom in india has it that they'll ripen faster if you store them in a sack of rice). not only will the mango not dehydrate if it is outside but the aromas as it ripens will spread through your home. pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes before you eat it--a chilled mango is a good thing.

mongo

nessa

nessa

Posted
Posted
a chilled mango is a good thing.

oh yaaa :biggrin:

A good thing? It was so good it was almost X rated.

Must... have... more....mango!

Sleepy_Dragon

Sleepy_Dragon

Posted
Posted

lol this thread is a crack-up. But now I'm craving mangoes. Pretty sure I've never had the nectar of the gods style of mangoes available in India, but some of us just gotta settle for what we can get.

Pat, gone shopping

"I... like... FOOD!" -Red Valkyrie, Gauntlet Legends-

gingerly

gingerly

Posted
Posted

We did buy some other fruit, but I couldn't care less, because now I'm in mangosteen heaven! I hesitate to say this on a list devoted to mangos, but I have to say that a perfectly ripe mangosteen is perhaps... the most perfect fruit ever. Yes, even better than mangos. They look so gorgeous when you cut them open - the neat white segments in the protective red flesh that surrounds them (which should never be eaten).

And the taste!!!! Its a combination of apricots and peaches and raspberries and mangos and every sweet fruit you can think of, in succulent white flesh. OK, I know I sound raving here, but I've always seen mangosteens as impossibly expensive fruit of which you'd be lucky to get one or two to eat, and that will only serve to whet the appetite.

i hear you!they're right up there with mangoes in my book.the fruit research stations in kallar and berliar in the nilgiris grow some really superb mangosteens.

jackfruit too ,but i digress..

Vikram

Vikram

Posted
Posted

I might have some good news soon on the importing mangos to the US issue soon - or at least more precise news. I've been trying to follow up about the exact reasons for the refusal.

The head of the Ambo Konkan festival told me that the initial reason given by the US govt was fruit fly, so a decontamination unit - something about a vapour heat process - was built in Vashi (on the mainland near Bombay), but the mangos were still rejected. He muttered darkly about NAFTA.

I finally tracked down a govt of India source in the food quarantine department in Faridabad and he told me a detailed report has been prepared and sent to the US trying to respond to their concerns about the import of Indian mangos, and they were now awaiting the US government response.

Once I get back to Bombay, I'll follow up on this, and hopefully try and get a copy of that that initial report,

Vikram

easyguru

easyguru

Posted
Posted (edited)
I might have some good news soon on the importing mangos to the US issue soon - or at least more precise news. I've been trying to follow up about the exact reasons for the refusal.

The head of the Ambo Konkan festival told me that the initial reason given by the US govt was fruit fly, so a decontamination unit - something about a vapour heat process - was built in Vashi (on the mainland near Bombay), but the mangos were still rejected. He muttered darkly about NAFTA.

I finally tracked down a govt of India source in the food quarantine department in Faridabad and he told me a detailed report has been prepared and sent to the US trying to respond to their concerns about the import of Indian mangos, and they were now awaiting the US government response.

Once I get back to Bombay, I'll follow up on this, and hopefully try and get a copy of that that initial report,

Vikram

Internationally, fruit flies are proclaimed quarantine pests. The change of damage by fruit flies is so great that many countries impose strict trade barriers and prohibit the import of fresh, potentially infested produce from endemic countries. A country or region needs ftuit fly free for a certain period of years before it is certified as fruit fly free. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation sets the standards for these areas.

Last week there was a large article in Wall Street Journal on Thailands effort to declare one of its region fruit fly free so that it can export mangoes to USA.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1086217...ticle%2Dbody%29

A Filipino Mad About Mangoes

Scientist's Long Struggle

With U.S. Food-Safety Rules

MANILA, Philippines -- Most security guards in the Philippines check visitors for guns or explosives. But on the small island of Guimaras, they are on high alert against a particular tropical fruit. "Mango, ma'am?" queries a port guard, flanked by a sign showing the yellow fruit marked with an X.

It's all part of Filipino scientist Hernani Golez's crusade to increase Philippine mango exports to the U.S. It took Mr. Golez 14 years to persuade the U.S. in 2001 to certify that the central Philippines island of Guimaras is free of a winged brown pest called the mango-pulp weevil and to permit mangoes from Guimaras to enter the U.S.

Today, Guimaras remains the only place in this mango-rich archipelago to have that certification, and authorities are vigilant against visitors bringing in possibly contaminated mangoes from other provinces. While the mango-pulp weevil was discovered on the remote island of Palawan in 1987, none of the country's top 10 mango-producing provinces (Guimaras is No. 19) have been found to contain the insect. Yet because of regulatory hurdles, it could take another five years to certify other islands as weevil-free and able to export to the U.S.

Edited by easyguru (log)
Milagai

Milagai

Posted
Posted

woohoo!

am sitting in bangalore right now,

neck deep in different varieties of heavenly mangoes:

mallika, apus, malgoa and raspuri. to say the least.

am in hog heaven more ways than one:

am in my parents' home, some one else doing

the cooking, and me sitting with my feet up

on the verandah swing and my food (or greed) wants

are anticipated and fulfilled before i say anything.

doubt i will fit into my clothes when i return to the salt mines.

my kids are learning a cute tamil folk song about mangoes....

milagai

(now where's the drooling hog emoticon?)

:raz:

gingerly

gingerly

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hissssssssssssss....no wait what am i doing.. :biggrin:

pardon my tamil-

maampazhama maampazham..

malagoava maampazham? -that the one?!

now -with improved spelling -i think! :blink:

Edited by gingerly (log)
Milagai

Milagai

Posted
Posted
Hissssssssssssss....no wait what am i doing.. :biggrin:

pardon my tamil-

maampazhama maampazham..

malagoava maampazham? -that the one?!

now -with improved spelling -i think! :blink:

hey! that's exactly the one!

glad that someone else knows it!

you have kids ?

milagai

Akiko

Akiko

Posted
Posted
Alphonso, Totapuri, Payari, Kesar, Badami, Malgoba, Dussehri, Langda....

Can someone tell me or point me to a link that describes each of these and how they differ from each other?

I'd only had mexican or hawaiian varieties until now and just thought both were okay. But I experienced something over the weekend that has made me completely change my mind and now I'm on a quest to taste every Mango variety available to me.

Here in England, Pakistani Honey Mangos have arrived. Oh, I've never tasted any mango like it. I peeled one sliced and ate it, and immediately peeled another. Looooovvely.

I don't know if Alphonso's are available here or if the season is already over, but I've never had one, and we haven't seen any yet this year. :sad: I'll be unhappy if we've missed it and they were available.

Amedama on the Go Go!
ravum

ravum

Posted
Posted

But I have to say that all thoughts of mangos were banished by when in another vendor's shop we spotted baskets filled with little dark round balls each with their distinctive cap - mangosteens!

Vikram,I really enjoyed reading your description of a mangosteen.I dont think I have ever seen one.I will look for them the next time I am in chennai.Is there a season for them?Any idea what they are called locally?

I love banganapallis too....when really ripe and juicy,they are almost better than an apoos.

bhelpuri

bhelpuri

Posted
Posted
I don't know if Alphonso's are available here or if the season is already over, but I've never had one, and we haven't seen any yet this year.  I'll be unhappy if we've missed it and they were available.

Akiko,

It is the middle-end of the season for export Alphonse mangoes, and you can easily find them in London. I've found them even in certain high street markets in North London, but in virtually any small Indian area (Wembley, for instance) they're prominently displayed.

Vineet Bhatia (of Zaika) agrees.

Akiko

Akiko

Posted
Posted

I'm beginning to wonder if Pakistani Honey Mango and Alphonso Mango are the same thing? Does anyone know?

It's just that I read a description of Alphonso Mango and it sounds just like what I have been eating!

last night I cut my mango into cubes, added a finely minced red shallot, 2 finely chopped deseeded bird chilies, a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Delicious.

Amedama on the Go Go!
bhelpuri

bhelpuri

Posted
Posted
ast night I cut my mango into cubes, added a finely minced red shallot, 2 finely chopped deseeded bird chilies, a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Delicious.

Very cool. Very interesting. Very fusion.

Not the way to eat mangoes.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

(a joke, just a joke)

FaustianBargain

FaustianBargain

Posted
Posted
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?

Mangoes belong to the same plant family as the poison oak, poison ivy and sumac(i think..i'll get back to you on that)...so...no surprise there, huh? its not the fruit! its the skin and the oils there..unfortunately, if you are sensitised to it, you'll get a very violent reaction the second time around..(the first time will be mild or nonexistent)

on a side note: i have always wondered if indians(like myself who have spent most of their childhood playing under mango groves and climbing mango trees) are less sensitive to poison oak, ivy or sumac..not that i'd like to test my theory..during my numerous appalachian trail hikes(almost all of it start as a thru-hike and i always ended up coming back home because i am a weakling), i almost always seem to miss the ugly rashes most white folks acquired in a hurry...the leaves probably contain the same oil as the skins...i dont recall how many times i have threaded the mango leaves for thoranams and for the thousands of important and sundry festivals...and growing up on vadumangai and mushy curd rice, ...ripe mango probably has the least amount of the 'oil' by proportion...

bague25

bague25

Posted
Posted
I'm beginning to wonder if Pakistani Honey Mango and Alphonso Mango are the same thing? Does anyone know?

No Akiko, the Pakistani Honey mangoes (I've got 6 boxes at home) are the kesari variety - and although they are VERY good - alphonso mangoes are something else... :smile:

http://bombay-bruxelles.blogspot.com/
mongo_jones

mongo_jones

Posted
Posted

No Akiko, the Pakistani Honey mangoes (I've got 6 boxes at home) are the kesari variety - and although they are VERY good - alphonso mangoes are something else... :smile:

i hate you, i hate you, i hate you!

bague25

bague25

Posted
Posted

No Akiko, the Pakistani Honey mangoes (I've got 6 boxes at home) are the kesari variety - and although they are VERY good - alphonso mangoes are something else... :smile:

i hate you, i hate you, i hate you!

I invite you to share them whenever you wish to visit and I'll add that Belgian beers are wonderful! I'll even pay a bus ticket :laugh::laugh::laugh: ....

http://bombay-bruxelles.blogspot.com/
Hest88

Hest88

Posted
Posted

Ah, I still hate you all! I can't make it up to Canada until October, so no spectacular mangoes for me. I'm making do with Manila mangoes here and made the mistake of buying a Haden earlier this week. Blech! Other than the Manilas the only other decent ones are the Kents that are still not available yet. Oh, I feel so sorry for myself...Damn paranoid government people...

Akiko

Akiko

Posted
Posted

I was devouring a Pakistani honey mango last night while talking to my sister (who lives in Chicago) on the phone. Whilst waxing eloquently about my mango, she interrupted me and asked me what it looked like (as opposed to tastes like). After I described it, she said that Whole Foods is selling something called a Champagne Mango in the states right now and it looks just like that!

I looked it up on the web, they are not the same but look and sound like they similar... has anyone had one of these? Are they good?

Amedama on the Go Go!
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