Mad for mangoes - Nature's Tropical Elixir - recipes included

Vegetarian Times, March, 2003 by Alexandra Greeley

From April through August, Richard Campbell, PhD, sets his daily schedule around mangoes. He starts his early mornings by eating a mild, sweet mango variety such as a Tommy Atkins or an Irwin. From about 10 a.m. until midafternoon, Campbell--who is considered the nation's leading mango expert and is the senior curator of tropical fruit at Fairchild Tropical Garden Research Center in Coral Gables, Florida--wants a mango that is heating up with the day, such as the Indian variety Alampur Baneshan, which hits you on several sensual levels. At dinner, Campbell enjoys a Cogshall, and at night, he prefers to indulge in the uncomplicated flavors of sweeter mangoes, which he often serves simply with vanilla yogurt. And that list doesn't even include the occasional Edward mango--which he calls "romantic"--that he can snatch from his parents' backyard tree.

What is it about this fruit that inspires such rapture? "I really believe that it is a fruit for all senses," says Campbell, describing the mango as intoxicating, exotic and alluring, with its vibrant colors and addictive flavors. "And all this is packed into one fruit," he says.

Even the primary mango flavor is both sweet and acidic. Layered upon that are other flavor components, which may have overtones of coconut, peach, apple or assorted other fruits. It's that elusive mango taste that causes people to become mango addicts, says Campbell, who himself is addicted, growing six varieties in his own backyard.

Another mangophile, Chef Allen Susser of Chef Allen's restaurant in Aventura, Florida, looks at his beloved fruit from a different angle: What works in a recipe? "Each fruit has a different flavor," he says, "and so many colors and textures."

A tropical fruit with thousands of varieties, mangoes grow best in hot, relatively dry climates with cool, dry fall and winter months for blooming, and warm spring and summer months for fruiting, says Jonathan Crane, tropical fruit expert at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Ideal growing areas include India, Southeast Asia, Mexico and Brazil. Because of its rainy season, Florida really does not qualify as ideal. Yet its hot climate does pamper the mango tree, and, thanks to the pioneering efforts of several Floridian plant researchers and geneticists, several hundred varieties of mangoes have been preserved at Fairchild Tropical Garden. Florida's climate also allows the amateur grower to try his or her luck, and mango swapping and sales at roadside stands assure locals of mango diversity.

Because most mangoes don't ship well, the rest of the American population must rely on eating only the sturdy Tommy Atkins. To date, maybe only 10 other varieties--the Keitt, Haden, Kent, Madame Francis, Ataulfo, Van Dyke, Palmer, Parvin, Manila and sometimes the Glenn--are commercially available in the United States, although not everywhere. But Campbell predicts mangoes soon will go mainstream, and we'll all be mad for mangoes!