Fruit Tree of the Day: Mango

Mango trees have basically become the citrus tree replacement for Floridians since HLB hit. It used to be tons of houses had citrus trees; now tons of houses have mango trees. You can’t drive through a neighborhood here without seeing at least a few mango trees. There’s tons of different varieties of mango, too. Fun fact: Even though there’s tons of variety, they’re all basically variations on three different mango types, Philippine, Indian, and Mexican. Mangoes can be grown in almost every area citrus can be.

I hope I don’t have to tell you how mangoes taste. Almost every store around here carries them year-round–though off-season mangoes don’t taste nearly as good. You can generally tell if they’re in-season by how big they are. Right now, they’re in season in Mexico. Florida’s season is June-August, depending on the mango variety. But nothing compares to the taste of one right off a tree. Typically, foreign ones are shipped frozen to kill any insects, which also kills the flavor. For some reason, you can’t often find Florida mangoes for sale in regular markets, even within Florida. Farmers markets usually carry them, however.

Fresh mangoes are delicious and are one of my favorite fruits. If you only grow one fruit tree from my posts, make it a mango. Almost everyone likes mangoes.

Some of the best varieties are orange sherbet (it actually does taste like that–it even has the same texture, and not as fibrous as mangoes usually are), lemondrop (a more sour, lemony mango), and Malika (IMO, best “regular” mango. It’s an Indian variety, and I’ve really liked other Indian ones as well). Alfonso and Glenn are the types you’ll find in stores. And there’s a ton more varieties! See if your local nursery has a mango tasting in July. I know a few in my area do. See which kind you like the best and plant it!