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Original poster

Help me! I've never eaten mango before

16 replies

babylann · 07/04/2011 10:17

I had one of those "brown food" upbringings, where everything went straight from the freezers at the supermarket to our freezers at home and then straight into the oven. I've obviously experienced the basic fruit and veg - apples, bananas and oranges, and potatoes, carrots, sprouts etc. My lack of experience with a varied range of food has left me with a few food phobias.

In the past year, I've been trying to branch out and been cooking more complex meals that I see on TV cooking shows and recipes websites and been learning a lot more about my tastes and what food can actually be like. I've introduced myself to courgette, chillis (I love hot food now), sugar snap peas, peaches (albeit tinned), duck, pork, and many more things which are now staple parts of my diet.

DD is 11 months and I've promised myself I will make sure she is introduced to rich flavours and get a healthy and varied diet as I feel a bit sad that it's taken becoming a grown up before I ever got to experience good food. She's obsessed with fruit so I decided to branch out and start trying her with new fruits. Yesterday when I was shopping, I picked up two mangoes - one for her, one for me.

I've checked my "flavour thesaurus" and that has a lot of great suggestions for mango combinations, but it's a bit too advanced for little old me Wink I don't even know where to start. Do you peel it, or slice it or just bite into it? Skin off or on? Are there any big seeds or stones, or little seeds that need removing before it can be eaten? Does it have a core or can you eat all the way through it (I ask because it has one of those little circle things at the bottom that an apple has!)? Or is it one of those fruits that you can't just eat without doing something else to it, like a lemon?

I know I can just wing it and cut straight into it to see, but I want to make sure I get it right so that I don't ruin it for myself and DD and we never eat a perfectly good mango again.

I'm sure I'll be back in a few days to ask about another food I spontaneously purchased at the supermarket, but until then if anyone can give me an absolute beginners guide to a mango that would be very appreciated! Grin

OP posts:
Flisspaps · 07/04/2011 10:19

Start here

It's got a great big bloody rock in the middle. I wouldn't have thought you'd need one each though.

Enjoy. And well done at being adventurous!

Original poster
babylann · 07/04/2011 10:25

Ooh thank you. I didn't expect to find a how-to guide to preparing a simple piece of fruit Smile

So... Skin off. Chunks. Can be eaten on its own and I can use my leftovers to make a sauce. Think we'll skip on the lime though, don't know if DD could handle it.

(If I plant the rock, can I grow my own mango tree? Grin)

OP posts:
thesurgeonsmate · 07/04/2011 10:28

Mango 101: You want a ripe mango, obviously, it should be maybe a little fragrant, something less than bullet hard, and at least a little coloured, not all over green. You eat the flesh raw. You don't eat the skin. There is a stone. The stone is quite unusual, the flesh really clings to it, and you won't be able to get it out cleanly, the idea is just to cut as much flesh away from it as possible. I stand it on its end and cut one of the fat sides off, feeling with the knife to get as close to the stone as possible, and then take the skin off the piece I have removed. Then do the other fat side. It can all be very juicy and slippery, this is normal. If you enjoy it, and you think there's still good stuff left clinging to the stone, it is normal to try and suck or chew it off! It's a great choice for babies, you can cut pieces the size you want, mine loves it.

HowsTheSerenity · 07/04/2011 10:30

The best way to eat a mango is similiar to Delia's except that when you get to step three do not cut the flesh off, just stand over the sink or out in the garden and eat it. You have to have the flesh drip over your hands. Then get the seed and eat the flesh off it. Mangoes are messy and best eaten with your hands!!!!

Original poster
babylann · 07/04/2011 10:32

Thank you. Now I'm in a bit of a pickle, as I seem to remember the mango being all over green. I'll go and check. Does that mean it's not ripe yet, or the opposite - like a brown banana?

OP posts:
MackerelOfFact · 07/04/2011 10:47

Mangos are delicious. The green mango sounds under-ripe - they usually are when you buy them. It will probably turn a little bit red/yellow and have a tiny bit of squish to it when it's ripe.

If you want to try some mango to eat sooner, you can usually buy them tinned in slices or frozen in chunks at the supermarket. Sometimes you can buy them pre-sliced with the fresh fruit salads too. Enjoy!

oricella · 07/04/2011 10:57

Yes - to not taking the skin of; after step two, turn the whole thing inside out so that it resembles a hedgehog.. great favourite with my two

Mangos can be a bit hit or miss here; the colour can depend on variety and you can get juicy green mangos. If you end up with one that won't soften no matter what, you can actually turn it into a very tasty Thai style salad by making a dressing of some fish sauce, sugar and lime juice (and chili to taste).

When I lived in Thailand I loved the really green, underripe mangos - crunchy and sour and incredibly refreshing! Welcome the the world of mango!

snice · 07/04/2011 11:06

sorry-this is page 1

Juggle them was my favourite response

Original poster
babylann · 07/04/2011 11:12

snice, I do not appreciate you linking joke threads to my thread when I'm asking for advice! Wink

Grin "Just kidding". Well I do have two so I could juggle them, but those other things sound good too. Seeing as we'll probably end up sharing one mango, I can save the other one for one of those mango ideas. I like cinnamon, so maybe that one.

OP posts:
ttalloo · 07/04/2011 11:32

babylann, do you have any Indian or Turkish shops near you? If you do, you'll be able to find small yellow-skinned honey or alphonso mangoes there in the next couple of months, which are much nicer than the hard green mangoes you get in supermarkets (which they sell because they are more resilient and don't get bruised so much during transportation, not because of their superior taste).

BTW, be prepared for a lot of mess when feeding mango to a little one. DS1 used to end up covered in the stuff - and he loves mango now!

And a lovely grown-up recipe for mango is to make a salad with gem lettuce, prawns, feta cheese, mango, avocado, cucumber, spring onions and coriander with a sweet chili sauce & lime juice dressing. Yum!

evilgiraffe · 07/04/2011 12:46

I eat raw mangoes in the bath - it's the only way to deal with all the juice running down your arms! Really ripe ones are incredibly juicy, and eating them in the bath with a glass of white wine as well feels very decadent! Grin

They are utterly delicious, enjoy! Dried mango is also very tasty - hotel chocolat does chocolate-covered dried mango too, which is fab!

Original poster
babylann · 07/04/2011 14:49

Thanks for all the tips! I will leave them for a day or two to see if they start getting more colour. One of them is very hard, the other is a little softer so I'm guessing I should start with that one first. I'm actually quite excited now!

OP posts:
Itsjustafleshwound · 07/04/2011 14:54

The other way to serve mango is to cut it up into little pieces in a bowl and pour a thick yoghurt (Greek??) on top and sprinkle with a bit of brown/demerara sugar ...

sayanything · 07/04/2011 14:59

Best way to eat a ripe mango is in the bath. It can be incredibly messy, but it's the most delicious fruit ever, bar none. I'm drooling now.

mrsdenman · 07/04/2011 15:03

That old thread is hilarious. Wouldn't happen today.

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