My heart belongs… to mangoes.
I love mangoes.
I will eat mangoes until I am doubled over with stomach pain because mangoes, I truly believe, prove there is a higher power that loves us and wants us to have things that taste good.
In fact, I’ll share a secret with you. In the spring and summer, if you are at the Union Square Greenmarket, cross 14th Street, and head to the intersection of 13th and Broadway, and, if you are lucky, the mango-on-a-stick lady will be there on one of the corners.
I know there are other mango-on-a-stick men and women, but this woman is my favorite. She’ll load you up with a couple extra napkins and call you “honey” besides. No one in NYC calls me “honey,” ever. And for a mere two dollars, she will give you, well, a mango. On a stick. The skin is completely peeled away and the flesh is expertly carved away from the center pit.
And, if you must gild the lily, she keeps a whole array of things to put on the mango: salt, lemon, hot sauce, cayenne pepper. I get mine with salt — sometimes with salt and lemon — although this mango-on-a-stick lady will ask you, that it, honey? with this slight edge of concern, which will make you wonder if you’re missing out by not ordering something else on it.
Still, as good that mango is, it’s still not an Indian mango — which Madhur Jaffrey has referred to as “the King of Fruit, Indian masterpieces that are burnished like jewels, oozing sweet, complex flavors” — because until March of last year, the US had a ban on Indian mangoes. And sadly, even though mango season doesn’t really get going until early May, the cogs of bureaucracy didn’t quite turn fast enough to get those mangoes onto US shelves in time.
I am dying to try to one of these mangoes.
When I started writing this post, about a week ago, I emailed Whole Foods’ customer service, asking if they were going to stock Indian mangoes. It took them a while to get back to me, but to their credit, they didn’t just send me a canned reply. They forwarded my email to the Floral and Produce Senior Coordinator for the Northeast Region, Fred Kasak. I just wish Mr. Kasak had better news for me:
We will begin to source Indian Mangoes as soon as possible. While the ban has been lifted for almost a year now, the infrastructure and marketing arms of the Indian mango industry have not set up shop here in the USA.
He went on to taunt me with a little anecdote of eating Indian mangoes while traveling in Asia. “The most memorable,” he wrote, “was one that was so big I was sold it in a burlap sack with its own handle! From what I know of Indian mangoes they are amazing.” Damn, Fred. Way to break my heart, man.
I was hoping to wrap up this post with a cheery look for Indian mangoes at Whole Foods this spring! but instead, I guess my mango quest will continue.
Still, I have my mango-on-a-stick lady to look forward to this summer. I think this year I will try one with everything.
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February 27th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
I am 3 months preggers and all I want to eat are mangos, pineapple and papaya. (Oh, and McDonald’s french fries.) Your mango-on-a-stick lady is making my already overactive salivary glands go nuts. If the craving is still in place by June, I will be rushing towards the Mango lady with all the fervor my abundance of hormones will allow.
February 27th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Girl, I remember that phase. At one point, I ate Brussels sprouts with butter, lemon, and salt until I was as flatulent as a farm animal. I couldn’t eat another sprout for about three years.
February 27th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
A mango on a stick?!?!? That’s amazing! And you put stuff on it?? Hot sauce and salt and lemon? Please, forgive me and the sad, sad, little sheltered west coast life I have lived. Is this purely an east coast thing or have I been missing out on something? Alas, I have never encountered a mango on anything other than a table. This information is life-changing. Hmmm… perhaps I should be Missoula’s very own mango-on-a-stick lady! I would make a killing!
February 27th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Believe me, I’d never seen one either until about 6 months ago. I think it is actually a Mexican thing — the last time I Googled “mango on a stick” I got a lot of references to people’s vacations in Mexico.
Check it out! I found some one who has just visited the very mango-on-a-stick lady I just mentioned!
She’s actually across the street from her. She looks pretty happy about that mango, too.
February 27th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
And she should be happy! That mango is making me huuuungry! It’s beautiful!
February 27th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Mangoes are AMAZING. I prefer the ones from the Phillipines which turn yellow when ripe versus the ones from South America which turn red. One of my clients who is Indian, always tells me that the mangoes from India are the best thing ever. He says the mango lassis from Bukhara Grill were made from Indian mangoes.
P.S. At first I thought you were talking about Chris Kattan’s character, Mango, from SNL who I also love.
February 27th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Uh, Kristen? Go to Jackson Heights. During mango season you can’t turn a corner without bumping into boxes stacked high. Patel Brothers is always reliable, so is Misri Mandi (but that’s a longer walk from the subway, and the mangoes are heavy). There are plenty of reasons to go to Jackson Heights; the mangoes aren’t even the chief one. (That honor belongs to chili paneer uttapham.) But they sure are an awfully sweet and fragrant reason.
February 27th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
I have a confession to make. I don’t like mangoes. Not even a little bit. And I am the only person I know who doesn’t like mangoes (with the possible exception of my parents, whom I doubt have ever eaten a mango). They’re just too sweet in the wrong kind of way. I can tolerate them in, say, chutney, or cut up in itty bitty pieces in a big fruit salad, or something like that, but by themselves they’re just too much. I feel like I’m missing out on this amazing mango experience that everyone’s having - any suggestions?
February 28th, 2007 at 7:19 am
when i was a kid, i used to visit my grandmother in miami and she had a ginormous mango tree in her yard. it shared space with a ginormous avocado tree. those mangoes were huge and sweet, although i’ve also had champagne mangoes from another tree in miami that were really good (those are small in comparison and have a different flavor). sadly, both trees were taken out in hurricane andrew. now i can’t wait to go to new york and visit your mango lady. i’m a huge fan of all food-on-a-stick as it is, i cant even imagine the heaven i’d be in with mango-on-a-stick.
February 28th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Jessi — believe me, I understand. When I tell people I just don’t like watermelon, they look at me like… I don’t know, like I just wiped my arse with an American flag. The only thing I can suggest is to try a mango with anything that would cut the sweetness you don’t like, say, with lemon, or something hot, or both.
February 28th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Yep, you have me and my kind to thank for that heavenly concoction that is mango on a stick. So good with lots of lime, salt and chile piquin. Which reminds me, have you tried Trader Joe’s dried mango slices with salt, dried lime and chile piquin? They’re freakin’ awesome.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I wonder about Garden of Eden, Balducci’s, and Dean & Deluca. Someone will have to carry them. My Punjabi friend talks frequently about the dreadful mangoes and fruit in general in the US, which drives me up the wall. She spends four months a year with her mother in the mountains of India, doing nothing but eating mangoes and exercising and making me very jealous.
July 17th, 2007 at 11:24 am
[…] Remember when I said Indian mangoes are supposed to be the best thing ever? […]