Mini mangos!

[randomness]

One of the produce highlights of my visit to China was the mini mangos. They were easy to find in most grocery stores. They were yellow, between two and three inches long, and very sweet.

They were delicious, and I bought them at nearly every opportunity. I feel like they have a similar relation to larger American mangos that baby bananas have to the regular kind you encounter in supermarkets: sweeter and more flavorful, though smaller. But I cannot find them here in the States, which is not surprising but sad.

Has anyone else seen these? And if you know where to find them, please let me know.

Comments

[bedfull_o_books]

Totally not helpful, but Tesco stocks them..... (Hey, England is closer than China, am I right?)

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/20080641309426

[randomness]

Cool. Thanks!

A bit expensive, though.

[bedfull_o_books]

Yeah. I didn't read the article. I just saw it and said, "Hey, mini mangoes at Tesco...." Flying to London for mangoes isn't in the budget either.... So sad.

[minoanmiss]

Maybe Melissa's World Variety Produce has them?

[randomness]

Alas, all they seem to carry are the champagne mangos of normal size.

Thanks for the pointer, though!

[outlawradio.livejournal.com]

Do they have pits?

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Yes. The pits are proportionate in size.

[outlawradio.livejournal.com]

Interesting. The next time I am in Brooklyn's Chinatown (which is really close by me, less than 3 miles) I will have a look!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Sunset Park? That's actually an excellent idea, as the labels said they from Taiwan.

[outlawradio.livejournal.com]

Yep! Very nearby, and I know they have some produce there that I consider (in my limited experience) non-standard, so it's worth a look.

[nezumiko.livejournal.com]

I think I recall reading that there are hundreds (or maybe it was just dozens) of varieties of mango, but only a very very few are commercially grown in the Americas. Because they are such a soft fruit, they generally don't ship well. Bananas have a similar issue, which is why it took so long to get anything other than a standard Cavendish banana in US stores. MMM baby red bananas are win.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm told these also have the Thai name Maprang, or plum mango. The ones I had were supposedly from Taiwan.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

It's funny to see a reference to "larger, American mangos" because I first really encountered mangos in Mexico, where they (and papayas) are much bigger than I ever see them here.

But the mini version sound yummy.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

They are! If I ever find any here you can try them.

[cerridwynn.livejournal.com]

I recall seeing smallish yellow mangos at the H Mart near my parents' in Silver Spring. People were buying flats of them.

We asked the woman in front of us about them -- she said that they were great and that this store was the only place to buy mangos. (Interestingly, she was Latina -- she told us where she was from but i don't remember.)

I don't think the mangos were small enough to call mini, though.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'll try H Mart up here! Excellent idea.

[sea-bound.livejournal.com]

Mm, mangoes.

Yemeni mangoes resemble the ones you're talking about--small, yellow, and some of the juiciest, sweetest mangoes I've ever had.

I've also had different mangoes (from the "US" version) in India, Malaysia, Kenya, and Barbados. I've heard that they grow many different kinds of mangoes in India, but perhaps I was too dazed while in India to notice.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

There are a huge variety of mango cultivars, and India is one of the best places to find them.

The particular mangoes I'm looking for apparently come from Taiwan, but are also common in Thailand.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I've seen them pretty commonly here in Canada in regular grocery stores. I haven't ever bought them, so I don't know with 100% surety that it's the same thing, but they look like your description.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to look the next time I'm in Canada.

Thanks for the pointer!