Every person has a favourite mango. A Mumbai will sing Alphonso’s praises, a Dilliwala will wax poetic about the chausa and dussehri, and a Bangalore resident will extol the superior flavours of the Banaganapalli.
Mangoes are synonymous with lazy summer days, and your favorite is likely to be influenced by the region or state where you grew up. Each mango variety has its own distinct flavor, texture, and sweetness, which is influenced by the soil and climate of the region in which it is grown, as well as years of grafting.
“For the mango to be the most flavorful, it has to be closer to its place of origin; if the consignment travels far, the mangoes are plucked early for slow ripening and the flavors don’t develop fully,” food blogger Sangeeta Khanna says.
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A true mango lover will tell you that rather than arguing about which variety is the best, it is better to enjoy their differences. Some may stand out for their fragrance, while others may stand out for their succulent flesh and sweetness. The mango season features a wide range of varieties, beginning with Alphonso in late April and ending with chausa in July.
“There is a north-south divide in mangoes,” historian Sohail Hashmi told HuffPost India. “While the soil north of the Vindhyas is alluvial, the soil in the Deccan is volcanic, with a different mineral content, touch, and feel. This contributes to the fruit’s distinct flavor. As a result, a dussheri tastes very different than a Banganpalli.” We asked some of India’s top food bloggers and writers about their favorite mangoes and their favorite mango-eating memories.
Langra
The langra, which was originally grown in Varanasi, is known for being fibrous and sweet, as well as having an acidic aftertaste. A similar variety is grown in West Bengal’s Malda region, as well as Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Gujarat.
“My all-time favorite variety is the langra aam, which I grew up on,” says Deeba Rajpal, a food blogger and baker. “The plump juiciness, the ever-so-slight minty flavor, the very thin seed (or guthli), and the almost ridiculous sweetness all combine to make this my first choice. Another of my favorites is the chausa, which is the last of the season.”
Chausa
The chausa mango is available later in the mango season, usually in July, after the other varieties have run out. Its dark orange yellow flesh is very sweet, juicy, and fragrant, with no fiber or sourness. According to legend, Sher Shah Suri named it after his victory over Humayun in a battle in Chausa, Bihar in 1539. During the medieval period, the chausa was also known as samar-e-bahisht, or the fruit of heaven, according to Hashmi. The chausa is widely regarded as the favorite mango of the legendary poet Ghalib. According to William Dalrymple’s The Last Mughal, Ghalib once said that the two most important aspects of mangoes are that “they should be sweet and plentiful.”
Dussehri
Dussehri mangoes, which are grown in the same region as chausa, have thick green skin that encloses very sweet yellow flesh and a thin seed. The fruit is named after the Dashehri village near Malihabad in Uttar Pradesh, which is said to be home to the 300-year-old mother tree.
Hashmi remembers eating a lot of dussheri, chausa, and langra mangoes as a kid in a now-defunct orchard in south Delhi in the late 1950s and early 1960s. “We used to go to the mango orchards in Delhi’s Andheria Bagh at least once a year when we were kids. These orchards, planted by [the second-to-last Mughal emperor] Akbar II, had small mangoes that could be sucked on “Hashmi reflects. “There would be families strewn about. We’d buy mangoes by the dozen and soak them in tubs of ice or chilled water. We’d eat lunch, which was usually besan paranthas and a spicy keema with green chilies. You then ate the mangoes.” Eventually, the orchards were replaced by
farmhouses in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but Hashmi claims that the odd mango tree can still be found in the area.
Alphonso
For its aroma and flavor, Mumbaikars refer to the alphonso or hapoos as the “King of Mangoes,” but those outside the city are likely to disagree. It was named after the Portuguese nobleman and explorer Alfonso de Albuquerque (1453-1515), who is said to have introduced the variety to India. Because of its thick skin, it is also one of the easiest varieties to export. Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, produces the best Alphonso mangoes.
“As a Bengali and a former Kolkata, I should like himsagar and Langar mangoes. However, twenty years in Mumbai has turned me into a fan of the city’s favourite Alphonso or hapoos mangoes” Kalyan Karmakar, a food blogger, agrees. “My wife’s late maternal grandmother loved Alphonso and would eat mangoes all day when they were in season. She would frequently feed me mangoes after a lunch of dhan dar (dal and rice) and potato bhaaji. I suppose I inherited her love of mangoes.” Karmakar says Alphonso’s sweet and fresh flavor stands out to him. “With each bite, there’s a lot of life and vibrancy,” he says. “There’s a good chance that hissagar fans would say the same thing about himsagar.”
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