Tuesday 22 July 2008

Pakistani Honey Mangoes

What I really love about summer is the availability of some of the best varieties of mangoes you would ever taste anywhere in the world. From April to August, we can buy imported mangoes air-freighted from the Indian sub-continent, which taste better than what we get from a regular supermarket, which are transported via surface, all year round.

The season starts with the availability of Alphonso mangoes from India, from late spring, then to the Sindhri mangoes from Pakistan in early summer, to the best ones available now, and pictured, in mid-summer, the Chaunsa mangoes. I am not aure I spelt them correctly, but I am sure I have seen them available in Malaysia as well.

Over here in UK, they are not available in mainstream supermarkets. I am not sure why, but probably because they do not have long shelf lives and do not have a uniform unblemished appearance, which the major retailers seem to demand these days, at the expense of taste. However, in the large cities, they are widely available at all Asian stores (indian and chinese), and there is always adequate supply to meet the demand from the communities.

The prices have gone up significantly this year (what hasnt?!), to around £3 - £3.50 per 2kg box. In previous years, as recent as 2006, I have bought them for as little as £2 per box. Still, its only available for a short time annually and I have one daily when they are in season and is a truly prolonged culinary highlight for me, every summer!

Here is a pic of a 2kg box
PicAttic.com

And here is a Chaunsa mango, cut... not the best looking, but most delicious! Not a hint of sourness... just sweet through ad through!
PicAttic.com


And for the other mangoes that we get all year round, which I have also seen in Malaysia, here is a short review. They are plucked unripe, so that they can survive the long ship journey to the UK. These are not my photos

Tommy Atkins:
Probably the best looking mangoes money can buy, but that's where the loveliness ends! Taste is bland, texture is dry and full of fibres that sticks to your teeth. If you're lucky, you will get one that is more sweet than sour, but still it lacks a "taste" and has almost no smell. I never buy these!
PicAttic.com

Keitt:
The flesh is smooth and juicy and when ripe, has a dark yellow colour. Not fibrous at all. Probably the best supermarket mangoes you can buy in the UK. Usually sweet when and hardly ever sour. Looks are deceiving because the skin is pure green when unripe, but leave it a week or two and it changes to a blushy orange red.
PicAttic.com

Kent:
Like a cross between Tommy Atkins and Keitt. Less dark in colour and less sweet, but still ok to eat when nothing else is available. Slightly fibrous, but not too bad.
PicAttic.com

11 comments:

ling239 said...

so many types of mangoes...
i like those from India or was it Sri Langka ~ :p

HairyBerry said...

dude, you name all your mangoes? haha!

oohhh, i can imagine some dishes you can make using these mangoes...nice!

tigerfish said...

I love mangoes that are not so fibrous :)

Tummythoz said...

Pity not in season over here now. It's durian, rambutan & mangosteens turn. Yahoo!

Precious Pea said...

Wahh...thanks for the mango lesson! Love them lots.

Babe_KL said...

Hi hazza, fancy cooking some noodles for this year's Merdeka Virtual Open House? This year's theme is Mee and My Malaysia.

daphne said...

That's alot of mangoes! Lucky u!

Hazza said...

Ling
I think you are referring to the alphonso indna mangoes. Smells stronger than it taste.

Nic,
Its easy here.. they are all labelled wit htheir names when you buy them.

tigerfish,
Me too. I think some are deliberately bred that way.

tummythoz,
I thought you can get local mangoes all year round. I know you can get Pakistani mangoes at this time in Malaysia too. But very expensive compared to local ones.

Preciouspea,
SOme are ok, but some are just bland. I miss the ones you get there, long and thin with dark green skin and orange flesh.

babe,
I am up for it!

daphne,
Not as lucky as you living in oz! You get the lovely Kensington variety, which are so expensive here!

Pakistani Mangoes said...

hello, really your blog is very useful and informative for all, specially that post of Pakistani Honey mangoes, mango is a great and delicious fruit in the universe, there are so many types of mangoes here in pk, as the whole world knows that the Pakistani Mangoes are v v delicious, i love mangoes v much..

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