Mango Prep and Tools: How Do You Prep a Mango?

[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 April 22, 2011 by Jenni (log)

[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

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

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

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Edited April 22, 2011 by Jaymes (log)

[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

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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 April 22, 2011 by prasantrin (log)

[Shel_B]

We eat mangos about three times a week, and it's getting to the point that I'd like to get a mango pitter. We usually eschew such gadgets, but it seems that this may be worthwhile for us.

So, are all mango pitters the same? What should I look for when selecting a pitter? Do some get closer to the pit than others? What's a good price for such a gadget?

Thanks!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I'm in the one-mango-a-day camp, and I had no idea such gadgets even existed, or were necessary for that matter. With a nice sharp knife and a little skill, one can pit a mango in about 2 minutes with very little loss of flesh....

[Chris Hennes]

Or you can buy a splitter and do it in five seconds... I have the OXO model, it works well.

ETA: Discussion on the OXO splitter here.

[andiesenji]

Or you can buy a splitter and do it in five seconds... I have the OXO model, it works well.

ETA: Discussion on the OXO splitter here.

I agree with Chris. It did take me a while to try one because I thought my traditional method was just fine, but as I like gadgets, I did buy one and found it worked great.

However I managed to break the first one I got so upgraded to the stainless model - not that much difference in price.

(Also upgraded to the stainless pineapple corer/slicer because I managed to chip one of the blades on the plastic one.)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

OK, you've almost won me over. But how does this gadget perform on non-Tommy mangoes? About 99% of what I eat are Reina, Julie, Keitt, and Kent, with some Ambassador and Alfonso thrown in for good measure (although those last two are definitely not slicing mangoes). It's a rare day at the end of the season that I even see Tommy Atkins mangoes at the market. This means that I'm often working with less than standard shapes and pit sizes.

[andiesenji]

OK, you've almost won me over. But how does this gadget perform on non-Tommy mangoes? About 99% of what I eat are Reina, Julie, Keitt, and Kent, with some Ambassador and Alfonso thrown in for good measure (although those last two are definitely not slicing mangoes). It's a rare day at the end of the season that I even see Tommy Atkins mangoes at the market. This means that I'm often working with less than standard shapes and pit sizes.

It doesn't work on the jumbo-sized mangoes that I often find at the Mexican market but it has worked fine on all the others as long as they are not overripe.

[dcarch]

As have been said, mangoes come in different sizes and shapes. Some are very ripe and some are not.

I have not found a tool that can work for all. Also, the way the tools work, you waste a lot of good mango. Mangoes in many areas are expensive.

I have searched the internet, youtube, etc., there are many demonstrations on how to cut and peel a mango. I have not found a way that I like.

So I have developed my own way to cut and peel a mango. It works with all kind of mangoes, and this method will get the last drop of mango meat without any waste, and no messy hands either.

Please, don't mangle your mango. :-)

dcarch

Sliced mango with mango ice cream

[ScoopKW]

I use my Gray Kunz plating spoon for this task. In fact, it's become one of the most reached-for objects in my kit.

But now that I've seen dcarch's trick, I am SO using that next time I need to break down mangoes. Bet none of the chefs at work have seen THAT.

[emannths]

I love the vegetable peeler "trick" for mangoes. I use it all the time.

[scubadoo97]

decarch-Pure genius

[Peter the eater]

decarch-Pure genius

Agreed. I'm buying a bunch at the market tomorrow to practice.

[Shel_B]

That mango peeling and cutting trick is GREAT! It eliminates my biggest objections to trimming mangos and probably the need or desire for a gadget to do the job. Thanks!!!

[KatieLoeb]

dcarch: Pure unadulterated genius. Really. Won't ever try that any other way from now on. You rock. Thanks for sharing.

[Maison Rustique]

Thanks, dcarch! Now I wish I hadn't just invested in a pitter!

[andiesenji]

Terrific method. I wish I could grip with my left hand well enough to use it.

[Kim Shook]

Great method and video, dcarch! Loved seeing your hands (one of my little idiosyncrasies) and wish you'd have narrated (I like voices, too ). Like Andie, I'm not sure that my left hand is up to the corkscrew trick, but I'm going to try it next time. Mangos are slipperly little suckers and even wearing gloves doesn't completely solve the problem. That said, I still love my pitter and will continue to use it. I peel with a Y-peeler (one of the few things I use that kind of peeler for) and then the pit is gone in a second. I almost always get the same kind of mango and they have always fit the pitter just fine.

[JeanneCake]

I'm going to the market right now and getting some mangoes.

Thank you for the tutorial!