The mango is the national fruit of India and 65% of the world’s production comes from here. The mango has always been important, going back to ancient times. Mango trees were often used to calculate a person’s wealth. In north India, mango trees could often form part of the dowry on expectation of marriage. Mango trees are of huge commercial importance, which explains their long respected history. Even nowadays, owning a mango tree is useful and I have one at home in my backyard.

Mangoes come in a variety of sizes and colours. The most well known is “Alphonso” and is the most popular and the one most often exported. It is named after the Portuguese explorer, who brought the fruit back from his journeys to Goa. The locals took to calling this Aphoos in Konkani and in Maharashtra the pronunciation got further corrupted to Hapoos, which is what a variety of mango is called today. The Hindi word for mango is aam.

Mango experts can tell by smelling whether the fruit is ready to eat. This skill is possessed by many Indians, my father being one of them. The rest of us just have to squeeze and hope.

Mangoes are available to buy from June to September. Mango trees tend to fruit every other year. With 2007 being a very good year in terms of quality and quantity, 2008 is likely to be poorer, so mangoes will be in short supply.
We might have to wait for 2009 to get the same quality of mangoes.

In Indian kitchens, during the mango season you will find mango on the menu in all sorts of dishes. Small tent cards on the table in restaurants will show the different preparations. At one of the mango festivals I attended I saw more than 100 varieties of mango.

At home, for as long as I remember I had mango every single day during the mango season. I cannot resist mangoes now, having grown up with them. This year, my dear friend Gurmeet got me some Alphonso mangoes, so kept my mango eating tradition going.

In India from the seedlings to the mature fruit, every stage of the mango is used for cooking.


Raw Mango
Raw mangoes are used to make Indian pickle, and every region has its own recipe.
Raw mangoes are supposed to be the coolant. There is a home made north Indian medicinal drink named Aam ka panna which gives relief during heat strokes. It is made by boiling raw mangoes then squeezed and pureed. Powder of roasted cumin seeds and rock salt is added towards the end and it is taken chilled.
Dried unripe mango powder used as a spice in India is known as amchur (sometimes spelled amchoor).
Another famous condiment called mango chutney made by mincing sweet raw mango with fresh coriander leaves , mint leaves and chillies with local seasonings, giving a taste of sweet and sour and a tablespoon of the same is enough to savour your palate.

Ripe mango
Ripe mangoes are used to make
Mango lassi (churned curd and mango pulp),
Mango juice (churned mango pulp +water).
Mango shake (mango pulp +chilled milk/mango ice cream),
Mango ice cream.
Mango kulfi (frozen mango dessert),
Mango kheer (rice, milk and mango pulp from north India),
Mango payassam (from south India),
Cut mangoes (hedgehog style),
Mango shrikhand (set mango curd from west India),
Mango phirnee,
Mango sherbet,
Aam-Ras (Mango pulp which is eaten with puris - an Indian Bread)
Sakhar Amba (Marathi word for a home-made mango jelly/jam),
Mango barfi (a type of Aamba-Wadi),
Aamba-Wadi (a gummy, chewy mango candy) or amawat

Mangoes are so important in our culture, they are used as offerings to God – this is called Prashad. In many Hindu Indian homes, the lady of the house will fast on Thursday or Sunday in the name of God and mangoes are her staple for the day.

So mangoes are very important to Indians as religion, culture, prosperity and enjoyment are all closely woven together. We wait for the mango season every year as it brings the happiness home.

I would love to share some mango recipes if any of you would like them. In the meantime, get your Indian friends to send you some mangoes or better still, come over to India and try them for yourself.