Ingredient Tue May 15 2007

Indian Mangoes

Over a year ago, while randomly reading news bits, I came across a headline that said something like "US Trades Nuclear Technology for Mangoes." I checked to make sure I wasn't reading a spoof-news site and then read the article. And the US did indeed agree to let India export mangoes to the US as long as they converted more of their nuclear plants to civilian power plants and opened them up for inspection.

The importation of Indian mangoes were initially banned due to concerns about pesticide usage and fears that bacteria, spores or pests could infiltrate and damage American crops. In 1986, more products were approved for irradiation treatments to prevent this, despite many concerns that irradiated food hasn't been conclusively proven to be safe, even though it has been approved by the FDA and other international organizations.

But starting this past week, mangoes from India hit store shelves at Patel Bros., 2542 W. Devon Avenue.

It's unlikely that you'll get to purchase one mango since they're flying off the shelves while being sold a case at a time for $35 each. The proprietor we spoke to said that many people are purchasing five, 10 or even 15 cases at a time. He received 160 cases the day before we arrived and had five remaining. We gladly handed him our money and took our box of mangoes home. Before we put away any of our other groceries we cut open the box to find 12 mangoes wrapped in mango-colored foam netting. We popped one out, cut it open, and closed our eyes before taking a bite of a delicious Alphonso mango. And it was heavenly. The stem end seemed floral. Hints of jasmine and rosehips merged into more citrusy and tart flavors at the bottom of the fruit. We sucked all the meat off the skin and smiled broadly with the knowledge that we'd have no problem eating a case of mangoes in a few days even though the shop owner assured us that the mangoes would last us three weeks. Different varieties will be arriving, but not every shop on Devon will have them. I doubt we'll get to sample anywhere near the 1500 varieties available throughout India, but I'm going to try as many as I can afford to.

— Cinnamon Cooper / Comments (1)