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

[Prawncrackers]

My my isn't your mango firm dcarch!

Indian and Pakistani mangoes are my favourite fruit and I eat so many when they're in season from April to August. Alphonso, kesar, badami, sindhri, chaunsa are the most commonly available variety in the uk. They are all very sweet and perfumed, the flesh is virtually all pulp with no fibre. So much so that you can eat them by squeezing till they liquify in their skins. You then bite a little hole and suck out all the pulp. There's no wastage. With all the varieties i've mentioned I can't see that a mango splitter or the corkscrew method working at all. They are just too juicy and soft.

[dcarch]

Thank you all. Sharing ideas is always fun.

I eat a lot of mangoes, I also like making mango ice cream and dehydrated mango leather. I had to find a good way to peel and cut a mango.

Prawncrackers, we (NYC) don't have the kinds of mangoes that you have. You are lucky. The mangoes we have here are all picked very green and after they are ripe, they are not perfumy at all.

dcarch

[janeer]

thank you for the cork screw tip. Why didn't I think of that??

[baroness]

THIS New Yorker gets mangoes similar to the ones Prawncrackers describes; "Champagne" or other brands of ataulfo mangoes appear in the spring for a few months and are fabulous. As stated, they wouldn't work with the splitter or corkscrew - they are far too delicate of flesh and the pit too small and thin.

The next time I get a Tommy Atkins mango, I'll try the corkscrew trick...but ataulfos have somewhat spoiled me on other types!

Edited September 18, 2011 by baroness (log)

[dcarch]

Mango season is starting.

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

What do you think?

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dcarch

Edited May 22, 2012 by dcarch (log)

[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:

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

1. 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.
   

1. 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:

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

1. 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.
   

1. 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 May 22, 2012 by Jaymes (log)

[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 May 22, 2012 by Panaderia Canadiense (log)

[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 May 23, 2012 by Ashen (log)

[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 May 23, 2012 by Jaymes (log)

[Hassouni]

37 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I've never had a mango before (to the best of my knowledge).  After seeing several posts lately and thinking that they looked really good ( @liuzhou had one for breakfast a while back) I decided to splurge and order 3 from Harry and David online (I joined a monthly club for a few months).

 

I had to google how to cut one up and I'm sure I butchered it but OH MY what have I been missing out on all these years????  Sweet...kind of like a cross between a cantaloupe and a peach...juice dripping down my arms.  I'm sad I only have two more!

 

 

My preferred way is to make 2 cuts parallel to the seed, removing two wide slices, sort of like this: (| |). Then peel the skin off the central part with the seed and just eat around it. For the 2 pieces you cut off, you can score the flesh and pop out the pieces into a sort of hedgehog-looking thing, and then cut them off or eat them directly - or you can just not bother scoring them and use a spoon if it's ripe enough. Mangos kick ass!

[liuzhou]

Hedgehogged mango

 

 

 

[heidih]

As noted by others I cut the cheeks off close to the pit, then can usually peel skin back. The pit w/ remaining flesh = cook's treat. My South Asian neighbor would buy the big boxes in season and share. I did reciprocate with "kick ass" plums. Her daughter came over one day and complained "mommy ate all the plums! - do you have more - I am sick of mangoes".

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, heidih said:

I am sick of mangoes

I don't think I would ever utter that phrase 🤣

[MokaPot]

I do the circular peel of the entire fruit (sort of like peeling an apple). Then, two slices (these are the prime pieces) along the flat sides of the seed (getting as close to the seed as possible). Then, two more slices along the skinny sides of the seed. Then, slice off random pieces from the seed.

 

 

Glad you got to try mango, @Shelby !

 

[Kim Shook]

Because mangoes are such slippery little suckers (dangerously so when you have arthritic hands), I use something like this and then score like @liuzhou.  Folks with steadier hands probably would find that device superfluous.  

[FauxPas]

The ataulfo mangoes here are definitely the best choice. And I think I'm in the minority, but I do like @MokaPotdoes, I peel first (though not in a circular pattern) and then cut the cheeks off, then the remaining bits. Or I just chew the remaining bits off.  😃

 

That hedgehog cut with peel attached never seems to work very well for me, I don't know why.

 

I start by cutting a bit off one end so that i have a flat spot to balance the fruit after peeling and before cutting.  

Edited June 28, 2020 by FauxPas (log)

[TdeV]

Staff note: This post and the responses to it have been moved from the Unusual & mysterious kitchen gadgets discussion, to maintain topic focus.

 

 

On 6/11/2023 at 6:28 AM, liuzhou said:

Except the essential step of cutting the mango into two stone-free sections.

 

So, how does one do this, @liuzhou ? My mango seeds/stones always stick to the flesh.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

 

So, how does one do this, @liuzhou ? My mango seeds/stones always stick to the flesh.

 

You'll never get all the flesh off the stone, but you can get close. I lay the mango on a cutting board. It naturally rests so that the stone lies parallel to the board, then take a knife and feel for the stone and run the knife across the top side of the stone. It's sort of a similar technique to filleting a fish using the backbone as a guide. When you have removed one half flip the mango back over then repeat to remove the other side, hopefully leaving the stone relatively flesh free.

 

The same company I bought the mango tool from also does these, but they are not adjustable, so you need to buy your mangoes to suit the tool. Screw that!

 

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

43 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

You'll never get all the flesh off the stone, but you can get close. I lay the mango on a cutting board. It naturally rests so that the stone lies parallel to the board, then take a knife and feel for the stone and run the knife across the top sidfe of the stone. It's sort of a similar technique to filleting a fish using the backbone as a guide. When you have removed one half flip the mango back over then repeat to remove the other side, hopefully leaving the stone relatively flesh free.

 

The same company I bought the mango tool from also does these, but they are not adjustable, so you need to buy your mangoes to suit the tool. Screw that!

 

 

I cut them vertically.  Most of the time I can get very close to the seed.  On a green mango, once I've cut up the cheeks, I'll lay the seed with some flesh on it flat on the board and shave off whatever is left.  If the mango is ripe, it is sometimes too soft for that, so instead I'll just stand over the sink and take off the remainder with my teeth (the sink is necessary if the mango is really juicy).

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

you need to buy your mangoes to suit the tool.

Not only that, some mangoes have big seeds and some have little seeds. You need to x-ray the mango to see how big the seed is.