I starting seeing a ton of small yellow fruits along the road. Not quite lemons, I needed a closer look. At my son’s school a fellow Mom and I picked some up. “They’re mangos” she answered to my query.
Smaller, and more mealy than the mangos you buy in the store, they don’t yield much fruit. But nonetheless – mangos falling all over the place!
The locals don’t seem to care, but to a Wisconsinite like me, mangos are exotic. Back in WI, if you bring mangos to a party, or get a mango smoothie, it’s special. Like a taste of the tropics. You’re fancy schmancy. ooooo…mangos.
Here, eh, mangos fall from tree into the ditch. In fact, on three separate occasions a mango beaned my car roof. It was loud and scared me! (“In other news, a gringa drove off the road when a mango beaned her car and she freaked out.”)
I decided to eat one. Yeah, it was mealy and mostly skin and seed. Maybe it was a little underripe. I could see why the locals just raked them up and tossed them out. Or ran over them with their cars. Now there is mango mush all around.
Squish the exoticness!
Those mangoes are super delicious when ripe! The one you’re holding is too ripe IMO; they need to be picked up from the tree before fully yellow and overripe. The variety is called “Cuban mango,” at least in the Ponce area where I grew up eating them from backyards. Firm, fibrous, just the right amount of sweetness, and quite filling. I like to eat them slightly chilled! Regards.
Thanks – I tried one off the tree and it was a bit better 🙂
Yum! We discovered them our last trip in Feb. and they were on the ground. We ended up picking quite a few every couple of days to set on the counter for breakfast.