If you're from a place where mango trees don't thrive, I suppose mangoes might seem exotic and interesting. Where I live, mango trees are extremely common. There are dozens of well known varieties and a few that are only remembered by people who live in the countryside. There's a folk song about mangoes that I would have put in here except all of the versions I found on YouTube were...not that great. It takes a full choir led by someone with skills to really get it right. But that's not the point.
The thing about mangoes is the trees can grow for a very long time. You can get mangoes from the same tree for your entire life (and your kids' lives) if termites never strike or human intervention doesn't require the actual removal of the tree. And frankly, they're delicious. At first.
At the beginning of the mango season, the fruits are absolutely delightful and welcome. It's not uncommon to eat several in one sitting. It's just great. Coming down to the end of the season, mangoes begin to rot under the trees, neighbours pass by with shopping bags full of mangoes just giving the things away (yay, more mangoes...) and it's almost ridiculous to try to sell them at the market. There are just too many.
I've seen mango chutneys, mango cakes, mango butter, mango smoothies (there's a scene in the movie 'Forrest Gump' that might give you an idea of the quantity of things you can do with mangoes except it's about shrimp). Some of them are really good but no matter how good they are, when mango season is over, there's a subtle sense of relief.
After some months have passed we begin to forget the extreme overabundance of fruit and tentatively wish for mangoes again. And the cycle continues.
Image sourced from pixabay.com
You and #blankcanvas86 should team up! Feed the dogs, the toothless men and the other needy. blankcanvas doubts there is much money in it, but I sure pay through the nose for my mangoes all the way over here in Europe. Or the petrol/kerosine - now I know for sure. (I always thought they were relatively hard to grow and harvest like raspberries (never work in my garden); then I thought the were more like oranges with an endless shelf life; now I realise they are terribly seasonal and somewhat of a nuisance.)
Yep, they're everywhere. If I could figure out how to collect all of the unwanted mangoes, give away half and sell the other half, I think I'd have a sustainable social enterprise on my hands.
Debo decirte que en mi casa tengo una genial mata de mango y es simplemente fantástico, son muy ricos y la mala noticia es que ya se esta acabando la cosecha:(
Then it's close to ending over here too. Cheer up, it'll be back before you know it lol