Take a guess as to the most-consumed fruit in the world. We in the United States might guess banana or apple, but the answer is mango. The mango is a native of India and Southeast Asia—thus the species name Indica. It’s a tropical fruit grown only in Hawaii, South Florida, and southern California in the United States, but these plantings are not large. Most of our organic mangoes come from Mexico, with some also coming from Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

On a visit to a fishing village on the island of Tobago, I was pleasantly surprised to find mangoes growing everywhere, not only as dooryard trees but also along streets and at the edges of tropical forests. I discovered just how delicious tree-ripened and unsprayed mangoes can be. Their flesh was meltingly sweet but with a tartness that only added to their succulence. Late in the day, women made mango sauce. Its volatile, piney, floral-sappy aroma and flavor added gustatory color to the delicately fleshed fish that the men of the village catch in purse seines and haul in every afternoon.

Conventionally grown mangoes from other countries, especially Mexico, may have been heavily sprayed with toxic chemicals, so it’s important to look for organic mangoes. Look for the name of the organic certifying agency on the fruit. If it’s not there, ask the produce manager who certified it and ask to see the paperwork. If there is no produce manager and you just have to take someone’s word for it, assume they are conventionally grown and being passed off as organic. I always avoid conventional mangoes because I know that they often come from countries that may not have the same kind of pesticide controls that we do.

A typical 7-ounce mango contains 90 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C, 75 percent of beta-carotene, 24 percent of vitamin E, and is a good source of fiber and trace minerals.

The mangoes we get here in the United States tend to be picked unripe and hard, and they must be allowed to ripen when we get them home. The process can be hastened by placing the mangoes in a paper bag with an apple, which gives off natural ethylene gas, a ripening agent. When the mango is ripe, it softens and yields to gentle pressure, like the stem end of a ripe pear when pressed with the thumb. Some mango varieties develop a warm yellowish color with a rich red blush as they ripen, while others keep a green cast, so don’t go by skin color alone. Don’t pass up mangoes that have a few black spots on their skins—that can mean they have a high sugar content. But don’t buy any that are squishy-soft, shriveling, or showing signs of decay. I find that a mango ripened at home is a fair approximation of the tree-ripened fruit—but only fair.

Mango flesh can be diced and frozen or dried, but fresh mangoes themselves will last for a week or two on the kitchen counter. Don’t store in the fridge.

The simplest way I know to prepare a mango for eating, given that its yellow flesh clings to the very large but flat fibrous seed inside, is to stand the fruit upright on its stem end with the narrow side facing you. With a sharp knife, slice off the left and right sides of the fruit, getting as close to the sides of the pit as possible without including the fibers. Lay each slab flat, score it vertically and horizontally, being careful not to cut into the skin.  ....read more