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Mango

Nature’s great superfruit, the mango, is ripe for the picking. Packed full of vitamins and with a sweet scent, mangoes are the ultimate summer fruit.

Editorial Review

The sweet smell of a mango is synonymous with summer when Australian-grown mangoes are in peak season. The ultimate summer fruit, mangoes satisfy sweet cravings and are a great source of vitamins and minerals. Mangoes are indigenous to India and South East Asia and are grown in frost-free tropical and warm subtropical climates. The Australian mango season runs from late September to April, when mangoes are picked from the trees of northern Queensland farms. Believed by some to be the most consumed fresh fruit in the world, mangoes are perfect as a healthy summer snack or served with ice-cream, transformed into a tart or chutney, or even as a unique addition to a curry.

Mangoes come in a myriad of varieties, and fluctuate in both size and colour. With a single hairy seed in the centre, sweet-smelling flesh and an outer skin, mangoes can sometimes develop small blemishes as a result of jostling with their peers on the tree - but this doesn't affect their flavour. Mango is a superfruit and an excellent source of vitamins C and A, and fibre, and contains 20 types of vitamins and minerals. Choose a mango based on its firmness and when you would like to eat it, keeping in mind a ripe mango is soft to touch. To speed up ripening, place in a brown paper bag at room temperature. Never put a mango in the fridge before it is ripe; once ripe, refrigeration can slow down the ripening process. Mangoes are currently at their best, so tuck into one of nature's divine gifts - your body will thank you for it.

Lauren Barker, November 2008