| Mango Mouth | |
by Judy Sobeloff, from the May 2005 newsletter
Some matters are too important to leave to experts. If you want the truth about something crucial, you might need to heed the call of the wild mango, letting it whisper its deepest secrets. You might need to risk mango mouth. But more on that later.
Originating in India four or five thousand years ago, mangoes are considered sacred symbols of love. Likewise, in the folktales of countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia, mangoes inflame passions leading to tragedy and/or transcendent love (hinduonnet.com).
Lest you think that mangoes are all fun and games, after reading descriptions of how to slice and score mango flesh in a criss-crossing pattern to minimize the mess, after learning about how mangoes must be grafted because if left to their own devices they will revert to their wild state—tiny, ropey, and tasting like turpentine--I was beginning to feel a little glum. Taming and subduing and managing of mess is the antithesis of the essence of mango.
If one wants an alternative viewpoint, how far would you guess one needs to look? After crossing the street to bring mango pie to our neighbors Mike and Leigh, my mango melancholy began to lift. Leigh, I learned, tasted her first mango doing agri-forestry for the Peace Corps in West Africa, where she ate mangoes galore. Large, grafted, cultivated mangoes grew by the river and were sold at the market, while wild ones grew abundantly in the village: small and fibrous, but sweet and delicious, eaten voraciously by young and old alike. Aha! I thought, so much for turpentine taste!
Eating a mango upon returning to the United States, Leigh reports being startled by a red “itching, burning” ring around her mouth that lasted “the better part of a week,” identified by her mother as “mango mouth.”
“If you don’t slather it ear to ear, you might not get the same reaction,” Leigh said. Later I learned that mangoes are members of the sumac family, along with pistachios, cashews, poison ivy, and poison oak. Just as a rose has thorns, mango sap is toxic and can cause a rash similar to poison ivy.
Meanwhile, across the table, Mike was looking a little fazed. As a child growing up in Florida, he was so averse to mangoes that his dad dug up the mango tree in their yard and gave it away.
“All right, here we go,” Mike said, lifting his fork. “I should be fine,” he added unconvincingly. We all held our breath as Mike chewed. But Mike liked it! “This is good, seriously,” he said. “It’s better than peach cobbler.”
In addition to the pie, which was a surprise knockout, my own family sampled three kinds of mango shakes on a juice/dairy continuum. We liked all versions, but liked the Indian mango lassi, with milk and yogurt, best.
“Is it simple to make?” Fred asked.
“So simple,” I said.
“Then we shouldn’t eat anything else,” he replied.
More fun facts: Mango trees are evergreens, and grow up to 100 feet tall. The paisley design in Indian textiles is a mango. Of the 1,000 varieties of mango, also known as the “king of fruit” or “apple of the tropics,” the Co-op carries three of the most popular: Kent, Tommy Atkins, and the small, golden Ataulfo.
As color is not a good indicator of ripeness, the best methods are a gentle squeeze and smelling the stem end. Unripe mangoes are used in chutneys, but if you do end up slicing into a sour, unripe mango, my friend Jyotsna recommends dipping pieces in coarse Lima sea salt.
I’m not going to describe how to eat a mango neatly. What interests me are the alternatives: Peel and eat it like a banana. Peel and spear it on a fork. Scrape the seed and the peel with your teeth. The preferred fruit-eating method of our 14-month-old isn’t described in any manual, but watching him brings our whole family joy: Gnaw, crouching naked, more raccoon-like than you’ve ever been. So if you’re willing to make a little mess, go ahead.
MANGO SHAKES (Adapted from The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home)
1 ripe mango, pitted and peeled
1 tablespoon frozen limeade concentrate or 2 tablespoons lime juice
1 cup milk or pineapple juice
Freshly whipped cream (optional)
Puree all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Serve chilled, topped with an optional dollop of freshly whipped cream.
MANGO LASSI (adapted from a recipe by Dipa Malakar at www.food-nepal.com)
1 mango
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup regular yogurt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon powdered cardomom
Cut mango into small pieces. Blend all ingredients for about 2-3 minutes or until a little foam forms in mixture. Serve chilled.
MANGO PIE (adapted from www.culinarycafe.com)
Pastry for 9” Two Crust Pie*
5 cups fresh mango, sliced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter (optional)
Heat oven to 425. Prepare pastry.
Mix mango and lemon juice; set aside.
Stir together sugar, flour and cinnamon. Mix with mango. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan. (Optional: dot with butter.) Cover with top crust with slits cut into it; seal with fluid. Cover with foil until last 15 minutes of baking.
Bake 9-inch pie for 35–45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.
*NOTE: This amount of filling turned out to be enough for two pies, so you may want to halve the other ingredients or, in keeping with the spirit of the mango, double the crust and make two pies.
Judy Sobeloff hopes to taste a wild mango someday.
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