Herb. No. 219 · Anacardiaceae
Indian subcontinent origin; a tropical orchard from Manila to Mali to Mexico.
Native · South Asia
Native Also grown
LegalGentleplant
Mango
Mangifera indica
The stone fruit of South Asia — a ripe cheek of orange flesh, and a cashew-family sap that some skins refuse.
Mango is a South Asian tree of the cashew family. Traditional use is as ripe fruit, green in chutney and salad, and dried. Culinary flesh is the path. Urushiol-related sap in the peel bothers people who also react to poison ivy. Peel it, eat the flesh, wash the board. A hard green fruit ripens on the counter if it was mature.
Flavor
Resin, peach, turpentine at the edge of some types — that is mango, not a fault. Alphonso is custard. A fibrous type is a string.
Parts used
Ripe flesh · Green fruit (chutney, salad)
Helpful
- A true tropical dessert
- Green fruit is a second kitchen
Cautions
- Peel rash in the ivy-sensitive
- Fibrous types
- A frost takes the tree