mangoes

Sorry I don't know how to send you a link, but if you Google BBC Good Food you can see how to cut, stone and slice a mango.

I have given up the battle with fresh mango. I buy it in frozen chunks from Tesco. Zero waste.

The best kind of mango is a variety called Alphonso. They’re grown in India and Pakistan but are only in season for a few months - May to July. You don’t usually find them in supermarkets but in the smaller Asian shops. Quite expensive but well worth it!

Kesar mangoes are just as nice as the Alphonso ones and , as Farmor15 says, they are worth a little extra. Never had a bad one yet!

My vote is for Julie mangos (That’s how we spell the plural in the Caribbean) though for a more savoury mango Calabash mangos are hard to beat. I think every member of my family has a different favourite. When my boys were small they always chose Graham mangos because they were huge, about the size of four apples. Sheer greed.
To serve you cut the mango either side of the stone almost to the bottom leaving a sort of hinge. The inside of the cheeks are then cut in two directions down to the peel without piercing it. Hold the cheek with two hands and gently push the peel side inwards until you completely reverse it. The flesh moves apart along the criss cross cuts you made leaving cubes of delicious flesh sitting proud in separate radiating cubes.. Now do the other cheek. With both cheeks reversed the stone section stands vertical with the attached two cheeks sitting porcupine like on either side. This means that you can remove each cube with a spoon and eat it in a delicate manner. In reality once each cheek is scooped clean everybody removes the peel on the centre bit and sucks all the delicious flesh off the stone.
The other way to eat it is to bite a small hole in the end opposite the stem, massage and pummel the mango with your fingers while sucking it until you feel the stone. This can then be manipulated to rotate it. This acts like a scraper on the inside which you do until you have sucked every last bit of juicy flesh out of the skin. Best done over the kitchen sink if indoors. Outdoors it’s best eaten in the warm Caribbean sea.

If you are going to eat a mango soon the best way to know if it is ripe is to smell it. I also buy slightly green ones for mango salad.

Cut off one cheek as close to the stone as you can. Remove the peel then slice the flesh into thin julienne strips. Slice an onion finely (red ones look nicest) and soak in salted water while preparing the rest of the salad. Finely slice different coloured peppers and cut into julienne strips, peel a carrot then peel off strips for the salad, slice the green part of spring onions lengthways and roughly chop coriander leaves. Rinse the onions and dry them, pop everything in a bowl and add lots of lemon or lime juice, a little sugar and some freshly ground black pepper and lots of flaked chilli. Toss then store in a container in the fridge. Tastes even better the second day.

That sounds delicious! Mango etc. added to shopping list x

I adore them and buy them all the time when they are in season. You can smell a ripe one and they are similar to avocados, just slightly soft to touch. I usually wait until they are $1 each. Great in salads, too. Ours are mainly from Queensland, too cold down here.

Such interesting replies. I think some of you must live abroad with all those names of species.
As for choosing a ripe one - I bought a huge green onr from a Turkish shop near us. found it was so soft I couldn't use it.
So I'll go by smell now.
As with melons..And good comparison with avacados.

Esspee, do you live in the Caribbean?

Slices of melon are delicious with chicken. I also add it to slices of melon and avocado and slices of jambon for a light lunch in hot weather.
I cut a slice off the bottom so it will stand and cut alongside the stone each side so I have two pieces. I then cut the flesh away from the skin and slice the mango - but if I see tinned mango I buy that as it is usually very good and no hassle.

The only fruits I like/eat are mangos, followed by persimmon, and then bananas. Don’t like apples ?

Btw if you’re near an Asian store, treat yourself to Pakistani mangos. They are smaller than Alphonso, but they are as sweet as honey. There’s another variety, called ‘uni manga’ - small and sweet. The green version is pickled in humungus jars (Baranis) and used all through the year (in Kerala)

PollyTickle

*Esspee*, do you live in the Caribbean?

Not now but spent 14 happy years there.

I love mangoes too, love to make smoothies with them! I have also tried making ice cream with ripe ones when they are in season!

Esspee I am drooling, dreaming about eating mangos in a warm sea
I also rely on smell - remove the stem end and sniff - usually a good indicator of taste

Forgot to add fresh mangoes are yummy in nearly every type of salad, with chicken, smoothies and muesli with yogurt. The Taste of summer.

Having the choice of one supermarket (ASDA) and no Asian shops in this town, where mangoes are labelled as 'mangoes' and not by name - I also cannot seem able to pick a ripe one. Smelling them doesn't help unless you know what you're smelling them for.
Do unripe ones smell different?

nanna8

I adore them and buy them all the time when they are in season. You can smell a ripe one and they are similar to avocados, just slightly soft to touch. I usually wait until they are $1 each. Great in salads, too. Ours are mainly from Queensland, too cold down here.

I have to say that Queensland mangoes are far superior to any I've ever bought in the UK, nanna8
Keitt and Kent are lovely but I haven't seen them here.

They have to be picked at exactly the right time to transport to the markets and shops. There is quite a science to it!

www.amazon.co.uk/OXO-Good-Grips-Mango-Splitter/dp/B000AREB5S?tag=gransnetforum-21
Various other types and retailers are available.
I don't have this one so I'm not sure how effective it is.

I use Esspee's method.

I am drooling thinking of ripe mangoes! I love making smoothies with them!

ExDancer Unripe mangos don't have much of a scent, ripe ones smell of mangos. Until you get the hang of it if you find your fruit a little underripe use it for a spicy salad. Recipe further up the thread.