In this continuing cooking series, Chef Seeto turns to the backyard garden to discover there are many more ways to enjoy some of our everyday fruits and vegetables, turning common produce into culinary delights. In this issue, you’ll learn a new respect for what we all thought was just a piece of fruit.
MANGOES. Sweet and delicious, healthy and invigorating, with all parts of the flesh being beneficial — is it any wonder they’ve been crowned the “king of fruits”? But did you know that mango has long been associated with love, worship and benevolence?
With the long awaited mango season finally upon us, it’s a timely reminder of just how far and how long the humble mango has journeyed throughout history.
Its sweet fragrance and distinctive flavour has delighted humankind for more than 6000 years, and with such a revered place in our history, the journey and story of mango is one of the most fascinating of all our backyard fruits. They bring tidings of good fortune, have had poems written about them in ancient Sanskrit scriptures, and Buddha supposedly found rest and repose in a grove full of mango trees.
They have travelled oceans and continents, and have seen the rise and fall of civilisations and empires, resulting in mangoes appearing in recipes in nearly very continent and culture.
Where did
mango roiginate?
History yields some very interesting facts about this celebrated fruit. Indians have known the mango since very early times, around 4000 BCE. However fossil evidence indicates the mango made its first appearance 25 to 30 million years ago in northeast India, Myanmar and Bangladesh, from where it travelled down to southern India.
Can you imagine having never seen or tasted a mango, how excited early explorers and traders must have felt?
It is with little wonder that mango plants were taken on voyages to Malaya and eastern Asia by Buddhist monks as early as the 4th and 5th centuries. Persian traders travelling along the spice routes, carried the seeds to the Middle East and Africa, with the first trees being planted in east Africa in the 10th century. With the arrival of the Portuguese in India in the 15th century, it was later spread to South America, the Philippines and to West Africa. By the mid-1700s they were growing in Barbados in the West Indies, and cultivation soon followed in Florida and Mexico by the early nineteenth century, and California in the 1880s. By the 1800s, the mango had also found its way to Australia and the Pacific where it has been grown ever since.
Ancient social and
religious influence
Today, mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, and the national tree of Bangladesh. Its importance to those cultures is steeped in thousands of years of religious and social history. In ancient India, the ruling class used names of mango varieties to bestow titles on eminent people. The mango tree was also associated with the god of love, and its blossoms were considered to be the god’s arrows by the Hindu Nanda Kings.
It was during the Nanda rule that the Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great, arrived in India and fought a famous battle with King Porus. When it was time for him to return to Greece, he took with him several varieties of the delicious fruit.
Mystical Indian Urdu poets would eat the tender young buds of the mango, believing they would add sweetness to the voice of their poetry. And the mango is well represented in iconography of eastern religions, with the Hindu Lord Ganesh often seen holding one in an upturned palm as a symbol of attainment, while the Jain goddess Ambika is often portrayed sitting under a mango tree.
With the rise of Buddhism, mangoes came to represent faith and prosperity among the religion’s followers, as there were several legends about the Buddha and his spiritual enlightenment under an orchard of mango trees.
Among Buddhist rulers, mangoes were exchanged as gifts and became an important tool of diplomacy. During this period, Buddhist monks took mangoes with them wherever they went, popularising the fruit throughout the Asian nations. Known as the “king of fruits” because many kings and noblemen in Southeast Asia had their own private groves.
This was a source of great pride, as they were considered to be a symbol of status and social standing. This is also the origin of baskets of the finest mangoes being given as gifts, which developed from the belief that they brought blessings of good fortune to a household; a tradition that continues today in many overseas cultures.
Today in India, wreaths of its leaves still adorn the doorways and arches of homes during celebratory times and weddings, and the dried skin and seeds are used in Ayurvedic medicine. In Australia, the first caseload of the year’s crop is usually auctioned off to benefit charity, another symbol of benevolence.
Many varieties
The fruit of the mango tree is what is known as a drupe. It has a fleshy outer structure called the mesocarp and a large, pithy stone in the centre called an endocarp. Olives, dates and figs are also drupes, and cashews and pistachios are distant cousins.
With hundreds of cultivars, this fruit comes in many different varieties, sizes, and colours, all of which are grown in frost-free tropical and subtropical regions such as Fiji. India is still the primary producer of this delicious produce, but most of the fruit is consumed within the country, leaving very little for export. With such deep significance to the Hindu religion, why would you want to export such an important fruit that bestows luck, love and health?
The main exporters today are Mexico, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan and Brazil.
Health and
nutritional benefits
It goes without saying that mango is another one of nature’s great medicinal gifts and when they come into season we are reminded to immediately add them to our diet. One cup of mango contains 100 calories, zero fat and zero cholesterol.
One cup of mango will fulfil 12 per cent of your daily fibre requirements. The same serving will also provide 100 per cent of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C, 35 per cent of vitamin A, 20 per cent of folate, 10 per cent of vitamin B6, and 8 per cent of both vitamin K and potassium.
They also provide copper, calcium, and iron, and are rich in the antioxidants beta-carotene and zeaxanthin. With their rich vitamin A content and antioxidants, they may also help to regenerate and restore skin cells, while the vitamin C helps to boost collagen production.
Basically, mango is one big handful of delicious medicine that repairs both inside and outside the body. To soften skin, combine the fruit of one mango, one tablespoon of honey, and a half cup of fresh coconut milk in a blender. Rub vigorously on your skin in the bath or shower, and rinse with warm and then cool water. It will leave your skin feeling soft and supple!
How to select and store
Mangoes come in a variety of colours, including yellow, orange, green, and red, but a red hue doesn’t necessarily mean it’s ripe.
To judge ripeness, squeeze gently. A ripe one will have a slight give with fingertip pressure, and will smell sweet at the stem end. An unripe mango has a sour taste and astringent effect on your tongue and lips, so choose carefully if you’re planning to eat it the same day.
Mangoes that are still a bit green will ripen more quickly if placed in a brown paper bag out of direct sunlight. Otherwise, store at room temperature for a few days. You can also slow down the ripening process by putting them in the fridge, but whole mangoes should not be frozen.
You can, however, cut up the ripe ones and combine them with sugar and tequila or vodka to make a refreshing, fruity homemade sorbet. After freezing, restore fresh mangoes to room temperature when you’re ready to eat, to get the full natural flavour.
Don’t let them rot on the ground! Pick them up and save them for another day.
Around the world
In Fiji, we eat them green and ripened or turn them into salsa, pickle, sauté or kuchla. But their travel throughout history also reveals how other countries have cleverly incorporated mango into their own cuisines.
In Latin America, street vendors sell them skewered on a stick and peeled back for a cool, refreshing treat and like Fiji, cut them up and whip them into a tasty salsa. They’re a perfect addition to a cool fruit salad and work well in syrups and sauces.
Mango is also the perfect accompaniment to fish, chicken, pork and are absolutely divine with barbecued ribs and even kokoda. And if you’re looking for another salad component, grate or shave them while they are green for delicious crunch.
So there you have it. Mangoes are another delicious piece of human history that should be revered and worshipped when they come into season. Eat them, cook them and give them away as gifts of friendship and love; you will be following more than 6000 years of tradition!
* The author is an award-winning celebrity chef and ambassador for the “Fiji Grown” campaign.
