I'm never really sure about mango season anymore - the dripping, exotic lusciousness that is best sucked and eaten in a cool bath (preferably shared) with a crisp chardonnay on the side is somewhat sullied by the eternal smell of rotting fruit outside, plagues of fruit flies and our old Thai landlady coming by every few days to ask why we're not EATING them all. Plus we don't currently have a bath and eating mangoes, one gets very, very sticky.
Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay
Did I mention it's HOT - as in really hot - at this time of the year? 38C+++ (100F++) most everyday means they lay on the fruit bowl and blacken in a day or two. It's compounded by not only the trees in the garden dripping-raining fruit, but EVERY house in the village has a tree and we are GIFTED them left, right and center too. Being such an empathic soft-touch, I also find it exceedingly painful to walk past an old Thai grandma in the Thai market selling her fruit for pittance - if our eyes lock and I feel her desperation to sell, I buy. I can't help it. Despite knowing there will be a "Mama, we're drowning in mangoes already!" wail from my daughter when I get home.
As I write this post on "abundance woes", I'm acutely aware that mango season is imminent back in my Thai world, and that I need to do things a little differently this year. So I can waste less and share more, and not feel endlessly pressured by something as simple as a tree yielding her natural abundance. I say A tree with some joy, since a few months ago, one of the mango trees in the garden succumbed to termites-borers of some kind, which reduces the size of the problem. But make no mistake, we will have HUNDREDS of mangoes ripe, all in roughly the same 7-10 day period. Judging by the amount of green fruit on the tree already on the tree last month, when I snapped this pic..
So I have structured a PLAN which involves daily diligence, for weeks and weeks during the intense phase of mango season. So we can spread out our enjoyment of the mango madness.
Firstly, We will be eating fresh Mango Salsa a LOT, along with either our Mango Super Smoothie or Mango over coconut milk oatmeal for breakfast.
Image Credit: CaribbeanPot
How to make Mango Salsa? Peel & chop some mangoes. Add chopped capsicum (bell peppers for the Americans in the room), chopped red onion, chopped corrainder (cilantro for the americans). A little finely chopped fresh chili grooves it along nicely. Add some salt, pepper and be generous with squeezes of lime juice. Mix and serve. *Voila!*
Mango salsa is great served with fresh fish, with black beans or roasted pumpkin... just sooo many ways to enjoy it.
Now, while I am chopping and making mango smoothies, mango topped coconut oatmeal and mango salsa, I have a LOT of mango pits which still have a LOT of meat on them. I will keep a covered dish in the freezer, and each time I have a pit that I don't feel like sucking clean, it will go in the freezer
When the bowl is full, I pop all the frozen pits in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for maybe 20 mins to loosen off the flesh. And then cool and strain.
Which makes MANGO SYRUP and MANGO ICE CUBES.
My Favourite Mango COCKTAIL?
Green coconut water
Mango syrup
Vodka or rum
Generous squeeze of lime
You can make it straight and easy, OR you can add the vodka, lime and coconut water to a blender, drop in as many mango icecubes as you feel, and give it a whiz. Ganish with a sprig of mint.
I also plan this year to simply freeze bags and bags of chopped mango flesh - for morning super smoothies. But we only have 2 fridges and neither has a huge freezer, so that's a limited part of the strategy.
Which brings me to the next part of my Mango Madness plan: Mango chutney.
Ploi, my 14 year old daughter LOVES Indian food (as do I) and we were blessed to have a personal cooking class, in our home in Thailand, from our visiting web and steem guru, @eco-alex. Subsequently, Ploi has become quite the dab hand in the kitchen with dahl and chapati. We often just eat it, as is, with fresh cucumber on the side. But some yummy spicy mango chutney would keep for AGES and be a prefect addition.
I really like This Recipe from The Daring Gourmet, and am planning to make LOTS. It's delish on sandwiches and with cheese (oh yum) too. Make too much? Guess what you're getting for Christmas or a hospitality gift next time we visit.
The one thing that has been bothering me as I plan for my Mountain of Mango Madness is the skins. Mangoes are peeled and it seems a 'waste' that can and should be used. So after considerable research and reading, I have learned that Mango Skins contain special enzymes and fruit acids which are wonderful for skin and prized by Asian women for skin lightening and brightening. Now I personally do not like the emphasis Asian ladies have on maintaining white skin, but I'd rather they do it naturally than with toxic chemicals which harm their skin pigmentation and their health in the long run.
So this coming mango season, I'm planning to temporarily freeze and then DRY some of the organic mango skins and powder them, to TEST a new skin care masque for Asian ladies who prefer fairer skin. Cos, after all, my natural products biz Pure Thai Naturals IS based in Asia.
So my take home message for you, dear Reader? PLAN for all massive incoming abundance and you won't have woes, per se (although you WILL be very busy in the kitchen) - instead you will have spread your abundance out over many months so it can be shared, savoured and enjoyed.
Expect MANY Kitchen Goddess steem posts in the coming months as the mangoes ripen and the madness begins.
BlissednBlessedin my natural Thai world.
This post was prepared as a response to @ecotrain's Question of the Week: @eco-alex/ecotrain-question-of-1555505307
Contributing to the @earthtribe. Cos it MATTERS.
