Oh that Armando telling me I wouldn't have a ripe mango until May. Apparently there was an early cosecha this year! Mmm the market is spotted with baskets of sweet, pink and yellow mangoes. They're not the fat daddies I'll be able to find cheap come May, but they're delicious. And such an unexpected surprise at market! We were in Guatemala not long ago (story to come) and I learned a fun new way to eat mangoes. Turns out bananas aren't the only fruit for on the go. Did you know you can peel a mango (mas o menos) like a banana? Incredible discovery. Not exactly ladylike, but so conveniently tasty.
So here's my thing. I love love love mango. But cutting it can be a slimy mess, and I don't love the way it feels when the fruit bruises under the weight of my hand while I'm cutting, or slides out of my grip as I try desperately to shave off a few more slivers of goodness. I know after you get it all chopped you can suck the seed, but something about struggling to cut and then still having so much goodness stuck to the pit...defeating in a way. It's not surprisingly hard to describe my feelings towards slicing mangoes, likely because only someone like me would have feelings about something like mango slicing...
I raise an exciting challenge to any mango lovers out there. Find yourself some alone time. This part is very important. At least for your first go around. Even if the only other person around is your husband or wife, you really should wait until you're truly alone. Once alone, and craving mango, grab yourself a bowl and a cloth napkin/clean dish towel. Stand yourself over the sink and you can skip the bowl for sure.So far for me this has been a great way to start the morning, so if you can swing it that's what I'd suggest. Put on a string of high-energy songs and start grooving. Pinch a piece of skin at the top of the mango, and start peeling down and back, working in sections. From here you can basically start going to town on the juicy little guy. I'll warn that some prime mango gets stuck against the peel, so you might want to give that a good tooth scraping. One of the biggest reasons I suggest mango sucking solitude is because it's tough to give any seed a good cleaning if you're worrying about manners. I personally cringe at slurping sounds (even my own) so I try not to let those happen, but mangoes are juicy, and your first couple times eating one like it's a banana can be a little tricky. Mmm I'm craving mango.
I've gotten so good at the peel and chew that I got to enjoy one at school the other day. Delicious. I need to make a list of things to try and ween myself off of before I head back to the States. So far we have mangoes, avocadoes and tajadas...
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