…magical. Best sorbet I’ve ever had: mango.
And one of my favorite snacks. Fresh or dried (preferably with no added sugar, thank you TJ’s).
This particular specimen was almost perfectly ripe….
It took me a while spending time in rural Mexico to figure out what the 10-cm long fibrous, beige, lozenge-shaped organic discards were that I kept seeking lurking in the dust in villages—mango pits!
Fun mango facts from Wikip: mangos are about 50% of the tropical fruits produced worldwide (>23 million tons in 2001) and the most common commercial cultivar is Tommy Atkins; the name mango comes to English from Asia via Portuguese (those wily traders!); and, apparently there are freestone varieties (never seen them).*
* Watch out for the skins and sap; some varieties contain, uhoh!, urushiol (especially KW!).
30 December 2008 at 1:35 pm
kayak woman says:
for sure! urushiol oil! Yikes! Managed to almost totally avoid it last summer. Only a few random little bits.
1 January 2009 at 2:49 pm
tom says:
From wiki:
“In many midwestern regions of the United States the Sweet Bell Pepper was commonly called a mango.[16] With the modern advent of fresh tropical fruit importers exposing a wider latitude of individuals to the tropical fruit variety of the mango, this usage has become archaic. However some menus still call a stuffed bell pepper a mango.”
That’s what we called ’em when my archaic self was growing up. Didn’t know what a real mango was. My grandma, I think, told me that the green peppers were displayed at corner grocers in crates with the word “Mango” or maybe “Mangoe” stenciled on it – the name of the Italian truck farmer who supplied the produce owned the crates and wanted them back. The shoppers thought that it was an identifying label for what was inside. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Say, some stuffed mangoes sounds pretty good for an early January supper, no? Maybe sliced mango for dessert? Not good if man-go hungry.
2 January 2009 at 5:17 am
Sammy says:
Stuffed Midwestern mangoes (that are not mangoes) sounds like a lovely menu! Hmmmm….