The First mango of the season is here

The Mango is the king of fruits in India and there is no wonder that it has Z class security. There are a lot of good varieties — I am listing top few in terms of taste and flesh quantity.

Malda — Salem, Tamil Nadu variety. It is very tasty as it has a very silky flavour and is yellowish white in the inside. It is greenish yellow on the outside with a thick skin that is edible .

Banganapally — Andhra Pradesh variety. Most commonly found in Hyderabad and Chennai. It is yellow both inside and outside, and is tasty. It has a juicy flavour and very closely tastes like mango bite toffee. Skin is edible.

Alphonso — Ratnagiri, Maharashtra variety. Most commonly found in Pune and Bombay. It is greenish orange outside and orange yellow inside. Skin is bitter, but can be eaten. It tastes like mazaa or fruity.

Peddarasalu — Andhra Pradesh variety. Most common in Hyderabad. It is orangish both outside and inside. It is very juicy and can be sucked out leaving the skin. It tastes like typical mango pulp.

Rumani — Andhra Pradesh variety. It is supposed to be the end fruit of the season. It tastes like Banganapally, but it is round in shape.

Neelam — Tamil Nadu variety. It is typically found in Bangalore. It is like Moldova outside but with less thick skin and Banganapally like flesh.

Imampasand — Karnataka variety. Typically found in Hyderabad. Generic mango.

Other varieties are Himayat from Gujarat, Dasheri from UP. One point to note is that, yes, the south Indian mangoes have a very delicious skin !!!! It is not un common for people to eat the mango with skin. Only if you can get the real one. Within a single variety of mangoes there is significant variation in size and taste. Make sure you get best ones. I like big sized Dashahara than smaller ones. Same for Kesar and Alphonso.

Why these are the best ones? well, choice of taste is hard to explain. But these are the ones fetching highest price per Kg or per dozen. Alphonso is only Mango that I know is sold in dozen (and rarely in Kg). Where do you find these ? Dashahara is sold is most of north India and Maharashtra as well. Alphonso is available in Maharashtra. Devgad Alphonso is exported, should be available outside India as well at premium rates.

Those who think that the Malda and Langra mangoes are the best, have not tasted the original premium quality Devgad Alphonso. Original Devgad Alphonso are very rarely found in areas outside kokan, Maharashtra. Because maximum amount of Devgad Alphonso are exported worldwide. Deciding the best mango depends on various factors such as Taste, Aroma, durability, Texture, colour.

Also perfect skin to flesh ratio, non fibrous, juiciness makes Alphonso the Mango King. Alphonso Mango is one of the best variety of mango found in India in terms of sweetness and flavor. Maharashtra region of Ratnagiri, Devgarh, Raigad, and Konkan are the only place in western part of India where Alphonso Mango are cultivated and also one of the most expensive kinds of mango in India.

Malda’ is the name of a district in West Bengal famous for production of ‘ Fajli’ breed of mangoes. So 'Malda’ is not the name of the cultivar, it's 'Fajli’ and it is indigenous to Bengal.It is like 20%–30% close to ‘ Himsagar’ which is another variety indigenous to Bengal. Now imagine if 'Malda’ is that tasty how tasty would be 'Himsagar‘. ‘Himsagar’ is currently the tastiest mango cultivar in India and no other mango comes even close to this particular breed. It's just people outside Bengal don't get to taste this type because it is not export friendly and is available for very short duration of time.

Uttar Pradesh which is a northern state of India is famous for mangoes.I don’t know the botanical name of that breed but they use to call that “Chausaa Aam or Dussehra Aam” which was perfect in taste. We use to sleep on the roofs in summer with bucket full of mangoes. and we had routine to listen stories from dad while eating mangoes. I wish I can bring back that days. Anyways Indian mangoes may be better then other mangoes or not, but Indians love toward mangoes is more than any other nationality. I have seen flower festival and dog festival here in western countries but I love Indian mango festival in India.

Kesar Mangoes is also simply called Gir Kesar because cultivar grown in the foothills of Girnar in the districts of Junagadh and Amreli. Langra is the prominent variety of mango and one of the most superior variety of Mango from the Northern India, Langra mangoes are originally from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Neelam mango grows in many areas of India, usually found in abundance in June. These mangoes are a favourite in Hyderabad and also a famous varieties of mango from South of India along with Raspuri Mango.

Totapuri Mango is the famous mango found primarily in south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Totapuri is one of the main cultivars grown in India. Benishan Mango also known as Banganapalli is one of the most common cultivars of mango the town of Banganapalle in Andhra Pradesh. These mangoes are large is size and weighing on an average 350-400 grams hence known as known as The King of Mangoes in South India. There are around 283 types of mangoes found in India, out of which only 30 are well-known, Here is the list of few more types of mangoes cultivated in India. Enjoy Mangoes all this summer starting now in March till June. Cheers!