Lemon Zest vs Orange Sherbet -- flavorwise

[Cookie Monster]

My experience is that picking too soon results in bland tasting fruit, but you would have to pick a fruit way before its time. Picking LZ this late in the season and ripening indoors is pretty safe. Picking in early June would be a risk for bland LZ, but not now, at least not on my trees.

It's counter intuitive, but picking mature green and ripening indoors generally results in best quality. Brix isn't really affected (unless picked way too early), and flesh quality and consistency is improved by allowing to ripen indoors.

This particular mango season, I have noticed a lot more of that funky / musky flavor and odor on overripe mangoes, more than in previous years. I'm not sure why.

That funky / musky flavor is generally an indication that it's overripe. The fruit will still look fine on the outside, but it's overripe.

Again, most likely from being picked too soon in the fruit's development (which caused improper ripening).

[bsbullie]

My experience is that picking too soon results in bland tasting fruit, but you would have to pick a fruit way before its time. Picking LZ this late in the season and ripening indoors is pretty safe. Picking in early June would be a risk for bland LZ, but not now, at least not on my trees.

It's counter intuitive, but picking mature green and ripening indoors generally results in best quality. Brix isn't really affected (unless picked way too early), and flesh quality and consistency is improved by allowing to ripen indoors.

This particular mango season, I have noticed a lot more of that funky / musky flavor and odor on overripe mangoes, more than in previous years. I'm not sure why.

That funky / musky flavor is generally an indication that it's overripe. The fruit will still look fine on the outside, but it's overripe.

Again, most likely from being picked too soon in the fruit's development (which caused improper ripening).

I have seen and in possession of whats being picked.  I can tell you for certain that much is being picked too soon.  I have been picking and eating LZ and OS for many years and disagree that it can be picked green for best quality.  I know many seem to like those added acidic and chalky components from a not fully ripe mango but there are many who dislike this (me being one of them).  For those wanting a ripe fruit, they truly benefit from being picked with color change.

Edited to correct typos (and to avoid being caned for doing so)

[behlgarden]

My experience is that picking too soon results in bland tasting frui....

Jeff, your NDM was picked hard solid green and it turned out to be exceptionally sweet. some mangoes do better than others. Almost most Indian mangoes are to be picked green and sap allowed to drain and the ripened in closed container wrapped in newspaper in dark space.

[Cookie Monster]

I know that it's counterintuitive. It took me a decade of growing and harvesting before I finally figured it out. A couple of notes based on my experience:

 - The "chalk" consistency seems to be related to calcium vs potassium levels. For example, LZ grown in lower Ca relative to K in my property are silky smooth. Adding a ton of gypsum introduces the chalk. Same with a number of other mangoes I've experimented with. Mangoes ripened indoors can have slightly more "chalk" to them, but that appears to be related to higher Ca to K in the fruit, which is somehow caused by picking slightly early. This is why you can avoid jelly seed (universally recognized as a symptom of low Ca) by picking early.

 - To retain acidity, one needs to pick earlier than mature green, and the only mango I've been able to do that with successfully is Nam doc mai. In this situation, it does reduce the brix, but NDM is such a sweet mango that a reduction in brix is not an issue -- losing 25% brix on a mango which is normally around 24 degrees of brix still produces a sweet mango :-).

My experience is that picking too soon results in bland tasting fruit, but you would have to pick a fruit way before its time. Picking LZ this late in the season and ripening indoors is pretty safe. Picking in early June would be a risk for bland LZ, but not now, at least not on my trees.

It's counter intuitive, but picking mature green and ripening indoors generally results in best quality. Brix isn't really affected (unless picked way too early), and flesh quality and consistency is improved by allowing to ripen indoors.

This particular mango season, I have noticed a lot more of that funky / musky flavor and odor on overripe mangoes, more than in previous years. I'm not sure why.

I have seen and in possession if whats being picked.  I can tell you for certain that much is veing picked too soon.  I have been picking and eating LZ and OS for many years and disagree that ut can be picked green for vest quality.  I know many seem like that added acidic and chalky components from a not fully ripe mango but there are many who dislike this (me being one of them).  For those wanting a ripe fruit, they truly benefit from being picked with color change.