Summer is horribly hot and humid in Mumbai. You can feel the tar melt under your kolhapuri chappals. Makeup refuses to stay on the face and sweat stains make public appearances an embarrassment. So what is it about the searing summer (besides cold baths) that makes staying in Aamchi Mumbai worthwhile? It’s the mango. Mangoes must be god’s way of apologizing for this excruciating heat.
Happiness is the sight of a 'peti' or crate of mangoes with dozens of squishy, ripe mangoes arriving at your doorstep. A good mango can lift your mood. A delicious one can make you forget your troubles - at least while you're eating it. Gently massaging a mango until you can feel the stone in the middle of the fruit and then tearing a small strip off the top with your teeth, letting the pulp gush into your mouth…is a pleasure only a mango lover can understand.
Now, I am not a mango snob. I love my Kesar, Langda and Dussehri as much as the Hapus (Alphonso). But truth be told, the king of fruits can be as polarizing as the veg biryani. It has often led foodies on frenzied #MangoWars on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Just last year, the first shot was fired by founder-director of C-Voter, Yashwant Deshmukh, when he claimed that the Alphonso was overrated. Writer and economist Sanjeev Sanyal jumped right in and vouched for the virtues of the Langda and the Baganapalli, while residents of Bihar and West Bengal were miffed to see Malda mango left off the list of all-time greats. The after-effect was full-blown mango mania and an online lecture on mango illiteracy.
Mangoes of India – from the ‘aam’ to the khas
While the Hapus is extolled for its non-fibrous, very sweet and orange flesh, it’s not the only variety with these virtues. The Badami of Karnataka is just as sweet, soft and fleshy. The gloriously bold and unpretentious Baganapalli of Andhra Pradesh is also a hit with Kannadigas. But when it comes to pedigree, the fabled Dussehri has a clear advantage. A 200-year-old Dussehri tree in Malihabad, Uttar Pradesh, is believed to be the parent tree of most other varieties of mangoes in the north and in Pakistan too. And it’s not just the Dussehri, Malihabad is in fact the mango-lover's Garden of Eden. Chausa, Langda, Safeda and many other famous varieties of mangoes are grown here. Dussehri from Malihabadi was accorded Geographical Indications (GI) status in 2010.
For Goans, the Mancurad is a special love affair. “It’s the juiciest, fibreless mango with the most amazing flavour. Aamras made with Mancurad will make you forget every other mango on earth, I bet! In Goan homes, the aroma of Mancurad ripening at home is a feast for the olfactory senses. Then there is Ferdanin which survives the longest, as it gets through the monsoon season. Even the seeds of this sweet, oblong fruit are roasted and consumed,” says Paul Noronha, Executive Chef, ITC Grand Central.
For Bengalis the world of mangoes starts and ends with the Himsagar. This star of West Bengal doesn’t venture out in planes and ships, across mountains and oceans to rich consumers of the western world due to its delicate nature but the unparalleled sweetness and aroma of the fruit is enough to send Bengalis into rhapsody.
The pale yellow Chausa grown in the Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh and also in Bihar is another delicious variety worth serenading. The Chausa originated in the Multan province of Punjab, in present-day Pakistan, and was popularised by Emperor Sher Shah Suri. Sher Shah Suri, while commemorating his victory over Humayun at Chausa in Bihar, gave his favourite mango the same name as the city.
Another mango with a regal past is the Imam Pasand grown in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Believed to be Mughal emperor Humayun’s favourite, this mango was also called Humayun pasand -it's sweet with a citrusy floral aftertaste. Picking the mangoes is a specialized skill that involves scaling the gnarled trunks armed with a sikkam - a bamboo pole with a hooped net. Utmost care is taken to ensure that no mango is bruised from falling to the ground.
Anything but aam
How much can a ripe mango cost? Well if it’s the Noorjahan from Madhya Pradesh, it could easily go up to Rs 1,000 a piece! This exorbitant mango came all the way from Afghanistan via Gujarat. Rumoured to be the world's largest mango (a single piece can weigh 2.5-3.5kg and can extend up to a foot in size), this one gets booked well in advance, as soon as the tree begins to bloom in January-February.
Then, there is West Bengal's Kohitur (named after the world’s greatest diamond Kohinoor) with a similar price tag – upwards of Rs 1,500 a piece. A cross between the now-extinct Kalopahar and another unrecorded variant, this mango is believed to have been created for Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah in the 18th century by horticulturalist Hakim Ada Mohammadi, whose sole job was to create new mango varieties for the nawabs. The low numbers and the threat of extinction keep prices high. Delicately flavoured with complex sweetness, this one is worth adding to your mango lexicon.
But the tag of the world’s snootiest mango goes to Miyazaki mango primarily grown in Japan. The ruby coloured fruit is now being cultivated by a couple in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur region under the watchful eyes of four security guards and six watchdogs to protect the trees bearing the rare fruits. The price? A hefty Rs 2.7 lakh per kilogram! Nothing aam about this mango.
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