How do you tell when a mango is ripe?

CCP

Is there any reliable way to tell when a mango is ready to eat?

I had one in my fruit bowl for about a week while I waited for it to soften but, when I went to dissect it last night, it was rotten inside and ended up in the bin. I was really looking forward to that mango, too. :mad:

I want to go and buy another one today but don't want to make the same mistake again - can anyone help, please?

valk_scot

I eat them when they yield to gentle pressure (use a cupped hand, not your thumb!) and have a nice perfumed smell. If they smell of nothing, they're not ripe. You can't tell by the colour as some mangos are green even when fully ripe.

lowesy

Would second what valk_scot said there, but just to add, once your mango is ripe you should store it in the fridge apparantly as this keeps it in that state until you're ready to eat it!

Although I don't know if I could calmly put a perfectly ripe mango in the fridge without devouring it immediately

CCP

Thanks for the quick responses.

I wonder if I just got a bad mango, then - it was still pretty hard when I cut it up, despite being rotten in the middle. I'll just have to try again, I suppose, and hope I get a decent one this time.

Oh, and

lowesy wrote: »

Although I don't know if I could calmly put a perfectly ripe mango in the fridge without devouring it immediately

... yes, me too. The only thing more prone to being instantly devoured is fresh pineapple - mmm....

Ambersuccubus

Ooh, careful of the fresh pinapple - my little girl once devoured a half pineapple I'd chopped for the whole family to share, whilst I left the room, and ended up with acid burns on her chin!

CCP

Poor kid - that sounds really painful. I hope she recovered OK and it hasn't put her off pineapple for life.

My mum can't eat fresh pineapple as it burns the inside of her mouth. I guess some people must be more sensitive to the acidity than others, as I've never had any problems (I'm touching wood as I type that - pineapple's my favourite fruit and I'd be heartbroken if I couldn't eat it anymore).

Ambersuccubus

No, she still has it - it might be the only thing she shows a bit of moderation about, though!

charliee_3

i think there is a certain crappy breed of mango the supermarkets are buying at the moment, probably for their long shelf life as i bought 2 the other day, tried one, wasnt ripe, so left it on the counter and they have both gone wrinkly.. but still not ripe...

the last one i bought never ripened either...

rubbish.. got a good mind to take them back...

CCP

Mine was from my veg box company, so I have no idea what variety it was. I've just bought two from Tesco's though, so I hope that's not the same place you got yours, charliee.

One definitely feels ripe, though, so I hope I'll finally get my mango this evening!

Ambersuccubus

More pertinently on the mango theme, some of my aquaintances of Asian derivation in Birmingham (wow - how tricky is it to describe a Brummie with parents from the Indian sub-continent?) say that the greeny/red mangoes we tend to get in this country are rubbish anyway compared with the yellowy/orange ones - they're selected for appearance, not taste, as with most supermarket veg.
If you can get some of the other sort, they tend to look a bit dishevelled and sticky, but the flavour is very good, it's easier to tell what stage of ripeness they're at (see the stickiness factor!), and even the skin is edible, which I've never found to be the case with the red/green ones...

spugzbunny

Ambersuccubus wrote: »

More pertinently on the mango theme, some of my aquaintances of Asian derivation in Birmingham (wow - how tricky is it to describe a Brummie with parents from the Indian sub-continent?) say that the greeny/red mangoes we tend to get in this country are rubbish anyway compared with the yellowy/orange ones - they're selected for appearance, not taste, as with most supermarket veg.
If you can get some of the other sort, they tend to look a bit dishevelled and sticky, but the flavour is very good, it's easier to tell what stage of ripeness they're at (see the stickiness factor!), and even the skin is edible, which I've never found to be the case with the red/green ones...

Totally agreee with this! You can usually get the yellow ones in the chinese supermarkets but they do cost more.