INDIA again - 4

The Land of the Mango

India, I have discovered, is the land of the mango.  I love mangoes, and was delighted to discover when I came last year that the mango originated in India, and is widely produced and available.  And not only are mangoes available in abundance at this time of the year, they are available in many varieties.

Mangoes in the tree

In Canada, where we find Mexican or Californian mangoes at the Superstore or Save-Easy, I had assumed that a mango was a mango.  They are imported from warmer climates, and come as a solidly-fleshed fruit with yellow-red skin, a large pit and a tangy but sweet flavour.  Apples, on the other hand, come in varieties: Macintosh, Gravenstein, Honey Crisp, Russet, Delicious (in red, green and yellow), Spartan... the list goes on.  Apples come in sweet and tart varieties, and some are good for baking while others are great for eating fresh; they are green, and red, and green and red, and yellow or russet, and the flesh might be white or yellow, firm or soft, and the apples might be larger or smaller.

So also in India; mangoes come in a great number of varieties.  Depending on who you speak to in India, there are more than forty varieties of mango, or a 140, or over two hundred, or over four hundred, or a thousand kinds of mangoes.  Native to India, the mango was first domesticated in southern India thousands of years ago, and has since been spread around the tropical world in many other varieties.  Grown through much of India, the mango is particularly noted in the states of Tamil Nadu, Keralal, Karnataka and Andra Pradesh, and is the national fruit of India.  The trees are long-lived, some still producing fruit after three hundred years.  The fruit is eaten and used in various ceremonies, and the leaves as well; small branches of both fresh and dried mango leaves sometimes hang over the doorways of homes, especially at special times and feasts; they hang in shop doorways, from the mirrors of trucks, at sacred sites including the entrances to Hindu temples, and they are used as decorations for weddings and religious ceremonies.

India is the world’s largest producer of mangoes, but very few go for export (according to one source, ninety-nine per cent of mangoes produced in India are eaten in India).  And here, mangoes abound; they can be bought at grocery stores, at roadside stands outside the city, at the market, and from vendors who line the city streets or who push their four-wheeled carts through city neighbourhoods.  Mangoes are eaten fresh, used for juice (we had wonderful fresh mango juice made from crushed mangoes for breakfast this morning!), prepared in desserts, made into chutneys and relishes, cooked into side dishes and also made into oh-so-tasty mango lassi, a drink comprised of fresh pulped mangoes, buttermilk and, of course, sugar.

Mangoes available almost everywhere

I have run across over thirty varieties of mango locally in Mysore, including Alphonso (also known by its Indian name, Hapoos), Banganapalli, Sugar Baby, Mallika, Badami, Kesor, Rasapuri, Totapuri, to name just a few.  Last year, I was almost overwhelmed by mango selections, especially because I thought there was only one kind.  However, this year I have determined that I will get to know at least for or five different varieties of mango, and be able to distinguish them by colour, texture and taste from other varieties.  Thus mango-tasting evenings were born in the sitting room of my faculty suite at the hostel.

The first mango-tasting evening included three varieties.  Chelsy and Marina, Corinne and Pascale (with their newly-purchased fruit knives) gathered in my room, and we pulled out the Alphonso, Banganapalli and Mallika mangoes.  We started with Banganapalli, which seemed a little lighter orange in colour; it had a sweet, smooth texture, and an almost floral but rich and scented taste.  Mallika was next, a deep orange with a slightly musky, earthy taste, a more pungent aroma and a lingering aftertaste of orchards in the rain.  The last was the most popular, and most expensive, of the mangoes, Alphonso, which originally came from the state of Maharashtra; outside, green turning to yellow, it was the darkest richest orange inside, very sweet and smooth, almost like honey. 

The second evening we limited our selections to only two: Badami (also known as the Karnataka Alphonso), and Rajapuri.  Both were delicious, sweet, but the Rajapuri was a deeper green outside, and inside the flesh a lighter yellow, the texture so juicy it was almost juice in a skin with little actual eating needed, just a melt in your mouth smoothness with a light refreshing taste.
Maybe a few more will follow in the weeks to come, and yes, we are becoming mango snobs.

Mango Tasting Club: the founding members

It is the right time to be here for mangoes; the season starts in late April and continues through June.  For now, the roadsides have many vendors, and in the market, sometimes the smell of ripe mangoes is so strong it is almost overwhelming. 

The mango, I think, is suggestive of India itself, with its diverse forms and great variety, with deep rich colours and potent smells, its sweetness and, on at least two occasions so far, bring people together in a small celebration of life and its goodness.

And, if anyone would like to sponsor me in a mango-tasting tour of India at some point in the future, I will be sure to mention you in the acknowledgments of my full-colour guide to the tasting notes of the mangoes of India, available soon at the finest booksellers and grocery stores!