Tastes Like Mango

Lately I've had a question of my own...Why does mango and yogurt taste so unbelievably good together? This question coincides with an ongoing $1 a mango deal at Whole Foods.

Since I'm not a locavore, I have no problem stepping outside the foodshed, I just want my food to be affordable, sustainable and tasty, that usually means local foods - sale mangoes at Whole Foods meet my criteria. Like many exotic foods, I know next to nothing about mangoes. I used to get the fruit confused with papaya. No mnemonic (a word I used to confuse with pneumonic, as in my lungs are a pneumonic device) word play to help keep the tropical fruits straight, but a papaya has many seeds and when sliced in half, they look rather impolitely like lady parts. A mango has but one giant annoying seed; doesn't look prurient. 

Only 2-3% of papayas are exported. Because Hawaii and Florida grow only a small crop, the US is a net importer (producing 3,000 metric tonnes, importing 300,000). And let's face it, produce from Hawaii is imported too. Even though India, where the fruit and tree originates, is the world's largest producer, it is only recently that the subcontinent has become the world's largest exporter, replacing Mexico in the early aught-aughts. This has more to do with seasonality and an improved infrastructure - the ability to get products to market or processing before they rot than an increase in production.

109, You Rock My World

There are about 40 different mango varieties grown, but lately I have been feasting exclusively on the Ataulfo mango. Developed in Hawaii, this yellow skinned variety is grown in the Philippines and throughout Indonesia. It's flesh is an orange/yellow tone that is so unique it doesn't have a corresponding Pantone color, although if 109 were more dayglowish, it would be a good reference. This means homeowners can't order Ataulfo at the Home Depot, shame because kitchens could use this color. Hell, after the wettest March in history, I could use this color – it satisfies the RDA for Vitamin D just looking at it.

Other varieties include the Haden, the Tommy Kent, and the Keitt, which are bigger, rounder and whose skin ventures into red, green and orange colors. Each variety is grown in a different continent, extending the mango season to year around.  Like a lot of exotic fruit, raw is a good way to eat it and I can't say I've ever really done anything besides eat it raw - in Mexico I had it with red chili flake sprinkled on it as a street food, even my lazy man's lassi is mostly a raw food. Chutney, pickles, frozen, custards and ice cream are all ways of preserving the crop.

As for why mangoes and yogurt are so very tasty together: The adage about things that grow together go together is true, except yogurt doesn't grow like that. They are both rich, creamy with a slight acid balance, but usually things that go together compliment each other, not match each other's flavor profile, so this will just be an enduring mystery, one I will explore again and again as long as the sale lasts.