[life] Mangoes

Eating a mango is a process. It requires time, judgement, patience, a considering mind, and bananas.

Let me explain.

When I was a kid, my family lived in the Sudan, in Africa, for about two and a half years. There were alot of things I didn't like about the Sudan, but the things I did like mostly outweighed them. One of these latter things was that it was there I tasted my first mango.

We were having lunch at some terrible, attempting-to-be-Western restaurant and I ordered a fruit plate. Expecting the usual compliment of sad melon and a couple of grapes, I got instead apple, orange, freshly sliced banana, a bunch of grapes and some thick cubes of yellow-orange fruit. They smelled heavenly. When I ate them, it got even better. "What is this?" I asked my mom, who asked the waiter. "Mango," he said to me, smiling. "We grow them here."

Over the next two and a half years, I became a mango expert. I was the one who selected them at the local open market, picking over the heavy yellow, red, and green rinded oblongs, the stall owner grinning at me and my parents. We'd get them home and I would arrange them near a window to catch some more sun. I grew knowledgeable about density, weight, firmness, colour, the area around the stem, the dimpled bit at the bottom. We had perfect mangoes nearly every day.

Then we came home to Gimli, Manitoba. It was harder to find mangoes, and when you did, they were terribly expensive, and often not good. I didn't do the buying anymore - my mom grocery shopped while I was busy with school or other things, and while the first time she came home and said, "Guess what they had in today?" I was delighted, my enthusiasm waned quickly. They were sour, they were green as grass, they were soggy in the middle and once, memorably, the pit was home to fungus.

I gave up on mangoes.

Then I moved into Winnipeg. Just down the road from my second apartment was a Safeway with a really good fruit department. I wandered in one April morning and there they were: mangoes.

"Hmm," I thought to myself. "I really used to love these." I selected a couple and took them home. The minute the knife broke the rind on the first one, that smell rose up at me - sweet, slightly tart, vaguely yeasty - and I suddenly was in love again.

Buying mangoes in Winnipeg is a different proposition than buying them ten yards away from the tree they grew on. Fruit grown overseas and shipped to us is picked green, so that it will survive the trip. And much of it does not again see the sun unless you put it on your windowsill. Mangoes do not ripen well away from the sun, and most of what you see on the shelf at your supermarket will be very unripe. But I'm here to tell you how you can get sweet, firm, delicious mangoes everytime.

1) The selection

Mangoes should be slight yeilding, but mostly firm in the hand. Don't buy one that is hard as rock - it was picked too soon, and doesn't have enough moisture in it. Be careful of the area around the stem - if it is sunken and darker than the rest of the fruit, the pit will likely be moldy or rotten. Choose a mango that is mostly yellow in colour. Any dark green spots will not be as sweet and juicy as the rest of the fruit. Some people say that you should pick a mango that has all three colours - red, yellow, and green - but I have never found that to be a good guideline. Don't rely on just one factor. Colour, firmness, and appearance all matter.

2) The buddy system

All mangoes will be sweeter and more juicy for a day spent cuddled up to a bunch of bananas. Bananas are a miracle friend for unripe fruit - they help other fruit to ripen faster. I always buy bananas with my mangoes. The riper, the better. If your bananas get black and overripe while waiting on your mangoes, make some banana bread or muffins or something. Everyone's a winner!

3) Patience.

If you have some sun, tuck your mangoes and bananas together under the warming rays. Turn your mangoes at least once, but try to keep the greenest parts exposed. You will need to wait at least a day for the sun and bananas to do their thing. If you don't have sun, wait two days.

4) Eat that mango.

After your mango's banana/sun spa, you will notice that it has softened a bit more in the hand, that the colour has deepened a bit more into the orange spectrum. if you aren't sure whether it is ready to eat, stickthe very tip of a knife into the meat of the fruit near the stem. Sniff the cut. If it smells sweet, the mango is ready. If it smells a bit tart, or it is hard to smell at all, it isn't. Pop it back in the bowl for another day.

5) I wanna eat it now!

If you really want some mango, right this second, can't wait! choose a fruit that is mostly red and yellow. You can't cut fruit at the market, but you can give it the firmness test - if you squeeze it moderately hard and it indents slightly around your fignertips, it should be good to eat. Don't choose a mango that is too squishy, as it will be overripe and difficult to cut. Overripe mangoes are great for baking or shakes, however. I have found, over long experimentation, that fruit I've paired up with bananas first taste sweeter. It is possible that this is just the result of anticipation, however.

Now, go buy some mangoes!