We wrote this blog last year, telling you about the fabulous Indian and Pakistani mangoes on sale in Asian shops across Yorkshire. We were shocked therefore to learn that imports of Alphonso mangoes have been banned this year because of an EU regulation regarding fruit flies.
Experts say that if heat treated, the fruit flies can be eradicated and have organised a petition to reverse the ban which if it continues, will be devastating for the Asian shops who rely on selling thousands of these wonderful mangoes during the short 10 week season from the end of March to the end of May.
You can sign the petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/63939
In the meantime, read last year’s blog about the best mangoes in the world!
Yorkshire mangoes? Not quite, global warming hasn’t got this far, but we do have plenty of Asian shops in the county and now is the time to go and buy a box or two of Indian mangoes. They are here right now, but not for long. I bought four boxes last week in Leeds, and another two today. These beautiful, tender, sweet, yellow-skinned mangoes are only in season for a brief period from the end of March until the end of May. but those who know, and that’s you, are snapping them up.
I discovered Indian mangoes, when I was with a YTV film crew in Multan, in Pakistan. We were working with a group of doctors who took us round the area and pointed out the beautiful groves of mango trees and told us proudly that Multan was the mango capital of the Punjab.
It was only when I got back to the UK and bought a box of Indian mangoes from Maumoniat’s Supermarket in Leeds, that I discovered just how wonderful they were and I’ve been tracking them down each spring, ever since.
Alphonso (or any other Indian variety, I’d be hard pressed to tell the difference) are far softer, sweeter, juicier and less fibrous than the Costa Rican mangoes you find in the supermarket. So go buy them by the box (approximately £1 per fruit) from your local Indian grocer. You’ll see them stacked up – ripe mangoes sitting in their shredded paper nests just waiting for you to enjoy them with a squeeze of lime, or just peeled and eaten as they are with the juices running down your arm.