12 ms·

I grew up in Egypt, my dad is from a town on the Suez Canal called Ismailia, famous for its mangoes. We would wait the whole year for mango season (August/Septe

I grew up in Egypt, my dad is from a town on the Suez Canal called Ismailia, famous for its mangoes. We would wait the whole year for mango season (August/September). As kids, our clothes would all get mango stains. Our parents would make us take our shirts off before we eat them to avoid that. I moved to the US, and I haven't had a good mango here. When friends visit Egypt, I tell them to get mangoes (in season, around September), especially a variety known as Eweis. They get obsessed. I've never figured out why the US just doesn't have good mangoes, I'm guessing they're hard to grow locally or ship.

wara23arish 5y ago
I grew up close to you and have found the same thing about strawberries.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
Ever since I ate mangos in India during mango season (I was there in May/June), I have not been able to enjoy a mango in the US. Especially this variety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gir_Kesar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gir_Kesar I feel like I should be able to smell it from across the room, and there should be no fibers. I have had really good mangos in Kenya/Zimbabwe/Zambia too though.
- akudha 5y ago
  As a general rule, fruits and vegetables don’t taste good in the U.S, compared to countries like India. They last much longer here though. I don’t know the reason, but I can speculate - too many chemicals probably? Every time I am in India, I pig out. Yet, I rarely put on weight. I eat way less (like 50% less) in the U.S, and put on weight easily unless I am super careful. This is not to say all foods are awesome in India of course. But there is something not right about the quality of food here. Everything seems to be optimized for shelf life, profit, looks and taste, rather than nutrition. A single mango in my town costs $2.79, it has zero smell and tastes like cardboard. But it doesn’t go bad even after ten days, on the kitchen counter (I mean, outside the refrigerator).
  - SamBam 5y ago
    The main difference is fruits and vegetables in the US are bred for storage and transport, and not for flavor. This is starting to swing back, with people appreciating flavor, but this will require people to accept that there are seasons to fruits and vegetables, which is hard when you're used to year-round supply. But if you want a tomato in January or an apple in June, those just aren't going to taste as good.
    - akudha 5y ago
      I get your point about seasonality, but most produce here don’t taste good any time of the year, even when they’re supposed to be in season. I have heard the same feedback from others too, I am not the only one. Someone told me the same chocolates taste better outside U.S, because corn syrup is used in the American version.
      - SamBam 5y ago
        But my point is that the varieties planted are the ones that store well. So it won't matter what season you eat them in, they won't taste good. If you are lucky you might live near a good farmer's market that has actual seasonal varieties that actually take good in their proper months, and can't be found in other months.
    - culi 5y ago
      > The main difference is fruits and vegetables in the US are bred for storage and transport, and not for flavor. I've heard this take a lot, but I really think it has a lot more to do with how we treat our soils. American agriculture is obsessed with sterile soils. But the MAJORITY of plants in the wild get the MAJORITY of their nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi. Something which is not present in sterilized soil. They are quite fragile too. Not only are they killed by pesticides/fungicides, but even artificial fertilizers hurt them because plants rely on lack of phosphorus for them to start the signaling process to hook up with the fungi. Artificial phosphorus is much less bioavailable to plants, but its presence is enough to make them not start that complicated chemical dance The mineral content of our vegetables has declined by over 90% since 1914.[0] I'd find it hard to believe this lack of nutrient doesn't also have a massive impact on flavor profiles [0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-an...
- jitendrac 5y ago
  That's my favorite, And our family eats them in season every year. To get the real test of the kesar mangoes, you must get them when they are still green, and ripe them at home.
- hedora 5y ago
  Do any of these varieties grow in the SF bay area, or is it too cold in the winter?
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    No, I do not think it is anywhere near hot/humid enough in CA for mangos. I have a family member that started a farm for them (not the Kesar variety) in South Florida that have tasted okay, so maybe FL is an option.
  - newhotelowner 5y ago
    Too cold weather.
- newhotelowner 5y ago
  Go to Toronto during first week of May. Ask for Gujarati Indian grocery store. They should have Indian kesar. There is this store owner who also owns farms in India. They grow mangoes just for Canada. While you are there, try different mangos likes Desi, Langda, Hafus & Rajapuri.
- shermozle 5y ago
  Australian who lived in London for six years here. About once a year in London I'd buy a mango, craving that amazing smell and taste. Always disappointing. Then one day my partner walked into the local Pakistani corner shop and stopped. She could SMELL mango. She asked the guy: have you got mangoes? Sure enough he did. She bought a box of four. Soon as I got home from work that day, I opened the front door and immediately smelt it. "Have you found mangoes?" Back in Australia, this year has been a very disappointing mango season. Very few of the good ones.
atulatul 5y ago
Probably tropical weather is needed. In mango season (March-July), I feel blessed to be in India. Many varieties, my favorite being Alphonso: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonso_(mango) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonso_(mango)
- Ozzie_osman 5y ago
  We have Alphonso in Egypt, too! Though I prefer Eweis which is much sweeter. I've heard most of the mango strains in Egypt originated in India and spread there during British rule.
  - moeris 5y ago
    In fact, we have Alphonso mangoes in the US on a seasonal basis. Add others have pointed out, they're likely not as good due to shipping constraints.
qrohlf 5y ago
There’s a really good podcast about why you can’t get middle eastern mangoes in the USA, and the resulting smuggling operations that have sprung up to serve this niche - “Underground Aams Trade”. Highly recommended. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/underground-aams-trade-part-1-via-americas-test-kitchen/id1169261799?i=1000461237005 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/underground-aams-trade...
- radec 5y ago
  Here is the RSS https://seesomethingsaysomething.libsyn.com/rss https://seesomethingsaysomething.libsyn.com/rss
gumby 5y ago
A lot of tropical fruit is uninteresting in the USA: bananas, pineapple, mangoes etc have little flavor and typically one variety is available at most. I sometimes have 50 year old memories in dreams of eating fresh fruit and they are so different in form and flavor I wonder if they are hallucinations. But as you point out, they require a climate unavailable on the continent so have to be harvested unripe and transported a long distance. I should be amazed they exist at all. This supply chain aspect operates both ways: pineapples are grown in Hawaii and shipped to the mainland; as a result the only pineapples I’ve ever eaten there are the big flavorless ones sold all around the country. Hopefully the small flavor-packed ones are still grown locally and just provided to locals. It’s not just tropical foods either. Everything from tomatoes, melons, and grains to chickens and turkeys have been selected and modified for the needs of the supply chain. Although flavor, texture, and, I understand even nutrition has suffered, the net result is that there is a lot less hunger, so I have to consider it a net positive. My hope is that widespread automation and cheap clean energy will allow more local production and make “small batch” varietals cheaper. And in such a world, instead of indiscriminately pouring herbicides and pesticides to protect the productive crops' robot labor can pluck the weeds and bugs individually from the crops which should improve the quality of the result.
- dopidopHN 5y ago
  As a whole, food quality is the us is not great. Specially fresh produce. The lack of affordable farmer market is my take on it. And I don’t mean fancy farmer market for bourgeois bohème type. Where I grew up poor folks go to the market because it’s cheaper than a supermarket.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
    > Where I grew up poor folks go to the market because it’s cheaper than a supermarket. It is very difficult, in fact almost impossible, for individual farmers to beat supermarket prices any more, largely thanks to vertical integration within agriculture and food processing. This means that by and large, the point of farmers markets now has to be mostly about what you declaim: "bourgeois bohème type". If you don't have much money to spend on food, you won't be buying it directly from farmers anymore. That's sad, and seems weirdly wrong, but that's one of the paradoxes of scale in an industrialized, fossil-fuel enhanced agricultural system.
edge17 5y ago
Some details for why in the discussion thread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28166646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28166646
awb 5y ago
I’ve never had an Egyptian mango so I can’t compare but mangoes grow quite well in Hawaii and taste great to me.
tehwebguy 5y ago
Have you visited Miami in season? I avoided them sue to allergies in the family but we had a few mango trees in our yard which would produce mangos so large they would fall off the tree and burst when they hit the ground.
- riedel 5y ago
  Here is a video of a guy growing a variety of them in South Florida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2czF7QBxPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2czF7QBxPs Bet they ar least taste better than super market stuff. However, I guess it is no business if you could sell them two months a year.
jacquesm 5y ago
First time I went below the equator and saw a local fruit stand I didn't recognize half the produce on sale. It took me a while to realize that not only does everything taste so much better, the same items that would easily fit in the palm of your hand when bought as exported would comfortably feed a family of four. So I just didn't recognize a lot of the stuff even if I knew them already.
- atulatul 5y ago
  Mango and 'below the equator' remind me of Seinfeld episode The Mango. :)
wyclif 5y ago
One of the best places in the world for high quality mangoes is the island of Guimaras in the Philippines. They have a mangoe festival every May. They are considered to be the sweetest world-class mangoes, but I don't think any of them make it to the US because they're difficult to ship.
pseudostem 5y ago
I run an agri commodity trading startup (mostly bananas) in India. A few mango exporters I know complain about US import rules for mangoes. Apparently by regulation mangoes have to be immersed in hot water for 20 minutes. This destroys taste.
- LorenPechtel 5y ago
  I don't know the specifics but I'm not surprised. The Old World has a lot of pests the New World doesn't. Things which may harbor a pest we do not have get strict scrutiny or complete non-admittance here.
- mkoubaa 5y ago
  Irradiation is going to be approved soon as an alternative if I understand correctly
  - pseudostem 5y ago
    Irradiation is also an approved approach already as per a few online sources [1] I checked. I wasn't aware of this earlier. [1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2013/may/why-do-indian-mangoes-cost-so-much/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2013/may/why-do-indian-...
biztos 5y ago
I grew up without mangoes but now I live in Thailand and have fallen hopelessly, permanently in love with them. They are available all year, but varietals and prices vary wildly when it's not "season." There are also great mangoes in Spain and the Canary Islands, but they're very different and (I hate to say it!) not as loved by the locals as they should be. I have yet to encounter a decent mango in the US, but it's only been about a year since I started looking seriously, so maybe I'm just not clued in. Maybe Florida?
999900000999 5y ago
Food in the United States is generally very bland. When I visited Greece, the food was so much better than anything else I've ever tasted. It's not one problem in the US, it's every level of our supply chain is geared towards mass market tasteless junk. Going out of my way to eat as much junk food as possible, I actually noticed I lost a bit of weight from the two weeks or so I spent in Europe. I'm hoping to live outside the United States for at least a few months to see if this was a fluke.
u801e 5y ago
> I moved to the US, and I haven't had a good mango here. I'm used to the chaunsa variety, but I've found that alphonso mangos are a good substitute and are not too difficult to find in the US. I don't know how those varieties compare to the ones commonly found in Egypt.
- aldebran 5y ago
  A billion Indian gasps can be heard. Alphonso is the king of mangoes which is the king of fruits. It’s no substitute!
iamarunr 5y ago
In South India, our parents would make us take our shirts off before we eat mangoes to avoid getting stains as well. I was stuck in India due to the pandemic and got so lucky to be stuck during the mango season. Bliss!
culopatin 5y ago
Same with plums. I don’t even know why they sell them in the us. It’s like eating a ball of water. Think of the flavor of an ice slushie that’s just the ice. I gave them plenty of chances, in every corner of the country, in every season I could find them. Always terrible.
- namdnay 5y ago
  I was shocked by Melon in the US. I’ve been to NYC, Dallas, SF, everywhere the melons have no taste whatsoever. The nice orange colour is there, but there’s little sweetness and absolutely none of the musk/nutmeg
- pvaldes 5y ago
  > It’s like eating a ball of water. We are talking about different fruits here: Prunus domestica, The Common or European plum, and Prunus salicina, the Japanese plum are, by far, the most cultured. European plums are sweet, acidic, fleshy and firm, with a rich taste. Japanese plums are sweet, acidic, have a less complex taste and are soft and --watery-- by nature. The best Japanese plums are decent fruits with an useful trait. Matures earlier, so if you buy plums in June are most probably Japanese plums. You will have a sweet-acidic ball of water all the times. Not much unlike cherries that mature at the same time, everybody loves and are basically sugar and water. The good part is that you can have plums off-season. They aren't the best, but is the best plum that you can have in May-June; and is the only that you can culture in warm areas. Their season extends to July and maybe August. European plums --require-- cold. Without a minimum amount of frost hours in winter will not bloom. A few mature as early as June or as late as October, but the common season ranges from mid July to mid Sept. Those fruits had much more time and sun to develop their flavor and are more diverse and different in nature, with several subgroups. Some are mostly acidic and some store a lot of sugar. Some have a very nice trait, a 'clinging seed' (can be detached cleanly from the edible part). Unlike Japanese, they can be dehydrated and stored as prunes for many months. In sum, a much more versatile fruit. And there are the new pluots an plumcots also. Hybrids from plum and apricot that taste like very good european plums. So you need to educate yourself in what to expect, or ask in your grocery. There are lots of different fruits in the Prunus genus.
incanus77 5y ago
I live in the very un-sunny Pacific Northwest. I rarely see mangos, though I eat a lot of dried mango as snacks. I was introduced by my Asian-American partner who grew up eating it via her parents. Right now I am traveling in Mexico and craving fresh fruit, especially mango, everyday. So fresh, so refreshing, and so bright. It feels like vacation in your hand (or glass). Some American perspective for you.
- aldebran 5y ago
  Go to your local Indian store. If you’re on the east side there are tons of them now.
iSnow 5y ago
Hey, wait. Egypt is just around the corner from Europe. Why don't we get good mangos? The only good ones cost around 7 EUR per fruit and are flown in from the tropics.
- pvaldes 5y ago
  Lack of demand and plenty of acceptable replacements. Tropical fruit has a distinctive acid-sweet flavor that not everybody likes in large amounts. I would pick one avocado or a good apple or pear over a mango all the times. I would choose a Cherimola over a Mango all the times. Is a cultural thing I suppose.
omginternets 5y ago
I have a longtime friend whose uncle is from Burkina Faso, who insists -- quite emphatically, and with a lot of hand gestures -- that mangoes are "The King of Fruits". Someday, I hope to taste a real mango.
Aterio 5y ago
Avocados in Gran Canaria are always awesome. Hard ones soft ones they are just great. In Germany? I still like them so much to risk buying them but it's a depressing gamble :-(
walrus01 5y ago
The quality of the mangos in Pakistan is also excellent, and by my subjective opinion 3 times better than what you can get in the USA.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
alfiedotwtf 5y ago
I remember sitting in a carabao mango tree in the Philippines and eating them until I got sick... Sadly, these days in Melbourne the majority of mangoes sold at supermarkets and fruit shops are Calypso mangoes, which are powdery, not as sweet, and not as juicy. I find this weird though given that 80% of mangoes produced in Australia are Kensington mangoes and yet are harder to find :(
aldebran 5y ago
Go to your local Indian store in April/May. That’s mango season in India. Get yourself “Alphanso” or “Kesar” variety of mango. Thank me when you and your family enjoy it. Good luck! (You’ll need it. People will fight for those mangoes in the US)
bitsoda 5y ago
Come to South Florida. The variety of delicious tropical fruits is dizzying.

wara23arish 5y ago

I grew up close to you and have found the same thing about strawberries.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

Ever since I ate mangos in India during mango season (I was there in May/June), I have not been able to enjoy a mango in the US. Especially this variety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gir_Kesar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gir_Kesar I feel like I should be able to smell it from across the room, and there should be no fibers. I have had really good mangos in Kenya/Zimbabwe/Zambia too though.

akudha 5y ago
As a general rule, fruits and vegetables don’t taste good in the U.S, compared to countries like India. They last much longer here though. I don’t know the reason, but I can speculate - too many chemicals probably? Every time I am in India, I pig out. Yet, I rarely put on weight. I eat way less (like 50% less) in the U.S, and put on weight easily unless I am super careful. This is not to say all foods are awesome in India of course. But there is something not right about the quality of food here. Everything seems to be optimized for shelf life, profit, looks and taste, rather than nutrition. A single mango in my town costs $2.79, it has zero smell and tastes like cardboard. But it doesn’t go bad even after ten days, on the kitchen counter (I mean, outside the refrigerator).
- SamBam 5y ago
  The main difference is fruits and vegetables in the US are bred for storage and transport, and not for flavor. This is starting to swing back, with people appreciating flavor, but this will require people to accept that there are seasons to fruits and vegetables, which is hard when you're used to year-round supply. But if you want a tomato in January or an apple in June, those just aren't going to taste as good.
  - akudha 5y ago
    I get your point about seasonality, but most produce here don’t taste good any time of the year, even when they’re supposed to be in season. I have heard the same feedback from others too, I am not the only one. Someone told me the same chocolates taste better outside U.S, because corn syrup is used in the American version.
    - SamBam 5y ago
      But my point is that the varieties planted are the ones that store well. So it won't matter what season you eat them in, they won't taste good. If you are lucky you might live near a good farmer's market that has actual seasonal varieties that actually take good in their proper months, and can't be found in other months.
  - culi 5y ago
    > The main difference is fruits and vegetables in the US are bred for storage and transport, and not for flavor. I've heard this take a lot, but I really think it has a lot more to do with how we treat our soils. American agriculture is obsessed with sterile soils. But the MAJORITY of plants in the wild get the MAJORITY of their nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi. Something which is not present in sterilized soil. They are quite fragile too. Not only are they killed by pesticides/fungicides, but even artificial fertilizers hurt them because plants rely on lack of phosphorus for them to start the signaling process to hook up with the fungi. Artificial phosphorus is much less bioavailable to plants, but its presence is enough to make them not start that complicated chemical dance The mineral content of our vegetables has declined by over 90% since 1914.[0] I'd find it hard to believe this lack of nutrient doesn't also have a massive impact on flavor profiles [0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-an...
jitendrac 5y ago
That's my favorite, And our family eats them in season every year. To get the real test of the kesar mangoes, you must get them when they are still green, and ripe them at home.
hedora 5y ago
Do any of these varieties grow in the SF bay area, or is it too cold in the winter?
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  No, I do not think it is anywhere near hot/humid enough in CA for mangos. I have a family member that started a farm for them (not the Kesar variety) in South Florida that have tasted okay, so maybe FL is an option.
- newhotelowner 5y ago
  Too cold weather.
newhotelowner 5y ago
Go to Toronto during first week of May. Ask for Gujarati Indian grocery store. They should have Indian kesar. There is this store owner who also owns farms in India. They grow mangoes just for Canada. While you are there, try different mangos likes Desi, Langda, Hafus & Rajapuri.
shermozle 5y ago
Australian who lived in London for six years here. About once a year in London I'd buy a mango, craving that amazing smell and taste. Always disappointing. Then one day my partner walked into the local Pakistani corner shop and stopped. She could SMELL mango. She asked the guy: have you got mangoes? Sure enough he did. She bought a box of four. Soon as I got home from work that day, I opened the front door and immediately smelt it. "Have you found mangoes?" Back in Australia, this year has been a very disappointing mango season. Very few of the good ones.

atulatul 5y ago

Probably tropical weather is needed. In mango season (March-July), I feel blessed to be in India. Many varieties, my favorite being Alphonso: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonso_(mango) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonso_(mango)

Ozzie_osman 5y ago
We have Alphonso in Egypt, too! Though I prefer Eweis which is much sweeter. I've heard most of the mango strains in Egypt originated in India and spread there during British rule.
- moeris 5y ago
  In fact, we have Alphonso mangoes in the US on a seasonal basis. Add others have pointed out, they're likely not as good due to shipping constraints.

qrohlf 5y ago

There’s a really good podcast about why you can’t get middle eastern mangoes in the USA, and the resulting smuggling operations that have sprung up to serve this niche - “Underground Aams Trade”. Highly recommended. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/underground-aams-trade-part-1-via-americas-test-kitchen/id1169261799?i=1000461237005 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/underground-aams-trade...

radec 5y ago
Here is the RSS https://seesomethingsaysomething.libsyn.com/rss https://seesomethingsaysomething.libsyn.com/rss

gumby 5y ago

A lot of tropical fruit is uninteresting in the USA: bananas, pineapple, mangoes etc have little flavor and typically one variety is available at most. I sometimes have 50 year old memories in dreams of eating fresh fruit and they are so different in form and flavor I wonder if they are hallucinations. But as you point out, they require a climate unavailable on the continent so have to be harvested unripe and transported a long distance. I should be amazed they exist at all. This supply chain aspect operates both ways: pineapples are grown in Hawaii and shipped to the mainland; as a result the only pineapples I’ve ever eaten there are the big flavorless ones sold all around the country. Hopefully the small flavor-packed ones are still grown locally and just provided to locals. It’s not just tropical foods either. Everything from tomatoes, melons, and grains to chickens and turkeys have been selected and modified for the needs of the supply chain. Although flavor, texture, and, I understand even nutrition has suffered, the net result is that there is a lot less hunger, so I have to consider it a net positive. My hope is that widespread automation and cheap clean energy will allow more local production and make “small batch” varietals cheaper. And in such a world, instead of indiscriminately pouring herbicides and pesticides to protect the productive crops' robot labor can pluck the weeds and bugs individually from the crops which should improve the quality of the result.

dopidopHN 5y ago
As a whole, food quality is the us is not great. Specially fresh produce. The lack of affordable farmer market is my take on it. And I don’t mean fancy farmer market for bourgeois bohème type. Where I grew up poor folks go to the market because it’s cheaper than a supermarket.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  > Where I grew up poor folks go to the market because it’s cheaper than a supermarket. It is very difficult, in fact almost impossible, for individual farmers to beat supermarket prices any more, largely thanks to vertical integration within agriculture and food processing. This means that by and large, the point of farmers markets now has to be mostly about what you declaim: "bourgeois bohème type". If you don't have much money to spend on food, you won't be buying it directly from farmers anymore. That's sad, and seems weirdly wrong, but that's one of the paradoxes of scale in an industrialized, fossil-fuel enhanced agricultural system.

edge17 5y ago

Some details for why in the discussion thread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28166646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28166646

awb 5y ago

I’ve never had an Egyptian mango so I can’t compare but mangoes grow quite well in Hawaii and taste great to me.

tehwebguy 5y ago

Have you visited Miami in season? I avoided them sue to allergies in the family but we had a few mango trees in our yard which would produce mangos so large they would fall off the tree and burst when they hit the ground.

riedel 5y ago
Here is a video of a guy growing a variety of them in South Florida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2czF7QBxPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2czF7QBxPs Bet they ar least taste better than super market stuff. However, I guess it is no business if you could sell them two months a year.

jacquesm 5y ago

First time I went below the equator and saw a local fruit stand I didn't recognize half the produce on sale. It took me a while to realize that not only does everything taste so much better, the same items that would easily fit in the palm of your hand when bought as exported would comfortably feed a family of four. So I just didn't recognize a lot of the stuff even if I knew them already.

atulatul 5y ago
Mango and 'below the equator' remind me of Seinfeld episode The Mango. :)

wyclif 5y ago

One of the best places in the world for high quality mangoes is the island of Guimaras in the Philippines. They have a mangoe festival every May. They are considered to be the sweetest world-class mangoes, but I don't think any of them make it to the US because they're difficult to ship.

pseudostem 5y ago

I run an agri commodity trading startup (mostly bananas) in India. A few mango exporters I know complain about US import rules for mangoes. Apparently by regulation mangoes have to be immersed in hot water for 20 minutes. This destroys taste.

LorenPechtel 5y ago
I don't know the specifics but I'm not surprised. The Old World has a lot of pests the New World doesn't. Things which may harbor a pest we do not have get strict scrutiny or complete non-admittance here.
mkoubaa 5y ago
Irradiation is going to be approved soon as an alternative if I understand correctly
- pseudostem 5y ago
  Irradiation is also an approved approach already as per a few online sources [1] I checked. I wasn't aware of this earlier. [1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2013/may/why-do-indian-mangoes-cost-so-much/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2013/may/why-do-indian-...

biztos 5y ago

I grew up without mangoes but now I live in Thailand and have fallen hopelessly, permanently in love with them. They are available all year, but varietals and prices vary wildly when it's not "season." There are also great mangoes in Spain and the Canary Islands, but they're very different and (I hate to say it!) not as loved by the locals as they should be. I have yet to encounter a decent mango in the US, but it's only been about a year since I started looking seriously, so maybe I'm just not clued in. Maybe Florida?

999900000999 5y ago

Food in the United States is generally very bland. When I visited Greece, the food was so much better than anything else I've ever tasted. It's not one problem in the US, it's every level of our supply chain is geared towards mass market tasteless junk. Going out of my way to eat as much junk food as possible, I actually noticed I lost a bit of weight from the two weeks or so I spent in Europe. I'm hoping to live outside the United States for at least a few months to see if this was a fluke.

u801e 5y ago

> I moved to the US, and I haven't had a good mango here. I'm used to the chaunsa variety, but I've found that alphonso mangos are a good substitute and are not too difficult to find in the US. I don't know how those varieties compare to the ones commonly found in Egypt.

aldebran 5y ago
A billion Indian gasps can be heard. Alphonso is the king of mangoes which is the king of fruits. It’s no substitute!

iamarunr 5y ago

In South India, our parents would make us take our shirts off before we eat mangoes to avoid getting stains as well. I was stuck in India due to the pandemic and got so lucky to be stuck during the mango season. Bliss!

culopatin 5y ago

Same with plums. I don’t even know why they sell them in the us. It’s like eating a ball of water. Think of the flavor of an ice slushie that’s just the ice. I gave them plenty of chances, in every corner of the country, in every season I could find them. Always terrible.

namdnay 5y ago
I was shocked by Melon in the US. I’ve been to NYC, Dallas, SF, everywhere the melons have no taste whatsoever. The nice orange colour is there, but there’s little sweetness and absolutely none of the musk/nutmeg
pvaldes 5y ago
> It’s like eating a ball of water. We are talking about different fruits here: Prunus domestica, The Common or European plum, and Prunus salicina, the Japanese plum are, by far, the most cultured. European plums are sweet, acidic, fleshy and firm, with a rich taste. Japanese plums are sweet, acidic, have a less complex taste and are soft and --watery-- by nature. The best Japanese plums are decent fruits with an useful trait. Matures earlier, so if you buy plums in June are most probably Japanese plums. You will have a sweet-acidic ball of water all the times. Not much unlike cherries that mature at the same time, everybody loves and are basically sugar and water. The good part is that you can have plums off-season. They aren't the best, but is the best plum that you can have in May-June; and is the only that you can culture in warm areas. Their season extends to July and maybe August. European plums --require-- cold. Without a minimum amount of frost hours in winter will not bloom. A few mature as early as June or as late as October, but the common season ranges from mid July to mid Sept. Those fruits had much more time and sun to develop their flavor and are more diverse and different in nature, with several subgroups. Some are mostly acidic and some store a lot of sugar. Some have a very nice trait, a 'clinging seed' (can be detached cleanly from the edible part). Unlike Japanese, they can be dehydrated and stored as prunes for many months. In sum, a much more versatile fruit. And there are the new pluots an plumcots also. Hybrids from plum and apricot that taste like very good european plums. So you need to educate yourself in what to expect, or ask in your grocery. There are lots of different fruits in the Prunus genus.

incanus77 5y ago

I live in the very un-sunny Pacific Northwest. I rarely see mangos, though I eat a lot of dried mango as snacks. I was introduced by my Asian-American partner who grew up eating it via her parents. Right now I am traveling in Mexico and craving fresh fruit, especially mango, everyday. So fresh, so refreshing, and so bright. It feels like vacation in your hand (or glass). Some American perspective for you.

aldebran 5y ago
Go to your local Indian store. If you’re on the east side there are tons of them now.

iSnow 5y ago

Hey, wait. Egypt is just around the corner from Europe. Why don't we get good mangos? The only good ones cost around 7 EUR per fruit and are flown in from the tropics.

pvaldes 5y ago
Lack of demand and plenty of acceptable replacements. Tropical fruit has a distinctive acid-sweet flavor that not everybody likes in large amounts. I would pick one avocado or a good apple or pear over a mango all the times. I would choose a Cherimola over a Mango all the times. Is a cultural thing I suppose.

omginternets 5y ago

I have a longtime friend whose uncle is from Burkina Faso, who insists -- quite emphatically, and with a lot of hand gestures -- that mangoes are "The King of Fruits". Someday, I hope to taste a real mango.

Aterio 5y ago

Avocados in Gran Canaria are always awesome. Hard ones soft ones they are just great. In Germany? I still like them so much to risk buying them but it's a depressing gamble :-(

walrus01 5y ago

The quality of the mangos in Pakistan is also excellent, and by my subjective opinion 3 times better than what you can get in the USA.

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alfiedotwtf 5y ago

I remember sitting in a carabao mango tree in the Philippines and eating them until I got sick... Sadly, these days in Melbourne the majority of mangoes sold at supermarkets and fruit shops are Calypso mangoes, which are powdery, not as sweet, and not as juicy. I find this weird though given that 80% of mangoes produced in Australia are Kensington mangoes and yet are harder to find :(

aldebran 5y ago

Go to your local Indian store in April/May. That’s mango season in India. Get yourself “Alphanso” or “Kesar” variety of mango. Thank me when you and your family enjoy it. Good luck! (You’ll need it. People will fight for those mangoes in the US)

bitsoda 5y ago

Come to South Florida. The variety of delicious tropical fruits is dizzying.