Elephant grapes.

[bi0boy]

How do you tell a good mango from a crap one in the shop? Sometimes they are nice and juicy, whereas others are really fiberous and leave lots of stringy bits between your teeth

Somone said that red ones were good and green ones bad, but I haven't found that to be true at all.

 

[Vintage Paw]

I've always had bad experiences buying mangoes, so I stick to my Innocent Mango and Passion fruit smoothies now

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Haven't figured it out myself but the green ones are definitely not as ripe and therefore tougher but as for stringiness I'm not sure

I don't understand the taste either. Some can be nice and sweet and others may have a metallic taste

 

[mrs quoad]

FEEL the mango.

FEEL it.

With your hand.

And sniff it.

Nature is fucking ace at giving out clues, because froots want to be eaten when they're ripe. It serves them a great purpose to let the world know when things're kicking off JUST right. Because then we'll eat their flesh, lob the seeds around, and go back for more and more and more because they're scrummy.

I bought 4 of the squidgiest, gorgeousest Maya mangoes from Sainsbury's today (1.59, bogof). I am awaiting an excuse to eat them.

SO.

Feel em. Get a grip. If they feel like a rock, they'll be shit. Absolute shit. They should feel almost like they're bruising under your fingers. Certainly giving way one heck of a lot - so your fingers make an imprint with minimal, minimal effort.

Take a sniff too. If they smell good, that's a fucking good sign. If they smell of supermarket air, they're not really giving out that 'eat me' message that ANY fruit should do.

 

[mrs quoad]

Incidentally - green mangoes can be fucking gorgeous too. I'd always be wary of going by colour, because I've found it to be a pretty shit guide in the past.

Also - become variety-aware

Maya and kesar mangoes are - IME - fucking gorgeous. Delicious. I was buying boxes of kesar mangoes from Asda about three / four months back - 8 quid for 6, only sold by the box, and worth every penny.

 

[mrs quoad]

http://www.mad4mango.com/mango/aboutmangos4.html

 

[mrs quoad]

Incidentally - Alphonso also have an outstanding reputation.

Tommy Atkins are the bog standard uns knocked out in the UK. They are - as with most mainline commercial products - prized primarily for their long shelf-life, difficulty to bruise, potential for mass production, and aesthetic appeal.

The less commercial varieties will always be those that bruise more, have shorter shelf-lives, and are thus more expensive (more wastage, more risk to the supplier). But they also tend to be the ones that taste far and away the best.

It's always worth getting a Special mango (if and only if it feels / smells right, natch. No point wasting 1.59 on a rock hard lump of cack) from time to time, just to remember what they CAN taste like

 

[mrs quoad]

I stand corrected!

The two most widely available varieties of Mango in the UK are 'Kent' - a green fruit with a red blush and a rich, sweet flavour and 'Keitt' - a green Mango with a non fibrous flesh and a mild, sweet flavour.

Ha.

e2a:

Nonono.

I might've been right!

Tommy Atkins is the most important Mango cultivar in global trade[citation needed]. Although generally not considered to be the best in terms of sweetness and flavour, it is valued for its long shelf life and tolerance of handling and transportation with little or no bruising or degradation. This means it is the main mango sold in regions where mangos have to be imported, comprising about 80% of the mangos sold in e.g. the United Kingdom, and in the United States away from growing regions in Hawaii and Florida.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Atkins_(mango)

I was briefly alarmed that I might be wrong about froot

 

[mrs quoad]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonso_(mango)

*drools*

 

[bi0boy]

I don't understand the taste either. Some can be nice and sweet and others may have a metallic taste

Yeah what is it with that? Some of them smell like petrol

 

[bi0boy]

cheers mrs quoad i'll look for those varieties

 

[mrs quoad]

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Ripe mangoes are extremely popular throughout Latin America. In Mexico, sliced mango is eaten with chili powder and/or salt. Street vendors sometimes sell whole mangoes on a stick, dipped in the chili-salt mixture.

In Indonesia, green mango is sold by street vendors with sugar and salt and/or chili. Green mango may be used in the sour salad called rujak in Indonesia, and rojak in Malaysia and Singapore.

 

[mrs quoad]

Yeah what is it with that? Some of them smell like petrol

Ripening mangoes produce ethylene.

Don't know if that's relevant.

It probably isn't

 

[mrs quoad]

Tommy Atkins & the commercial brands tend to be shit; but that said, you can get absolute (comparative) beauties too...

Don't give up on the cheaper uns if you are doing the whole squeeze-and-sniff thing There are gems in there

But they tend to very periodic - like some days / weeks / months supermarkets'll just have 200% pure shit; then suddenly there'll be a day / week of absolute beauties

 

[story]

About feeling fruit:

Don't press or squeeze. That'll leave a bruise.

Feeeel. Use the flat of your thumb, feel for resistance, it's a gentle thing.

I get cross when I bring fruit home and discover thumb-sized bruises under the skin

Sometimes I see people testing avocados or mangoes, and I want to stop them and show them how to do it properly.

I don't blame market stall people for refusing to let people prod and press their produce. No-one seems to be able to do it properly in this country.

It's a gentle, sensing thing, not a probing poke.