I don’t know how people can seriously review mangoes now that were picked prematurely. For example all the comments on Cotton Candy. C.C normally is a late season fruit and it’s still May. Any comments at this time about Cotton Candy etc etc etc are meaningless crap. Anyone who gets up publicly and expounds on a mango 6-10 weeks before it’s time may have a screw loose or would rather show everyone how smart they are than have an interest in pure unadulterated truth. There is some member from North Miami who is putting videos of him tasting mangoes that have no basis in reality but he adds a disclaimer to everything he says. So basically he isn’t interested in truth only in something else. I find that extremely destructive and immoral. This site is for sharing accurate info in order to help each and every member new and old get accurate information for multiple reasons. I based my choices of which mango varieties to plant which was a huge investment for me in money and time and very very hard work on the great members here. If these unknowledgeable people were on this board back then I would have been totally screwed. And going forward lots of new people are going to get hurt by these same self centered and maybe dumb individuals. I have 26 Cotton Candy trees and this is the first year I have any fruit from them. I have never tasted one but my decision to buy and plant them was based on comments from a consensus of reviews by the obvious leaders on this board. It’s almost June 1 and not a single one of the fruit has fallen off of maybe only 25-30 on all the 26 trees. Right now it’s way way way too early for an honest review of a Cotton Candy mango. Does anyone who cares really want to hear meaningless comments about a mango so prematurely picked or that dropped off a tree. This is serious business here and anyone who takes this so lightly........
Hi Richard,
i understand you are mostly targeting me in your multiple comments, so I will elaborate (again). I get your perspective. Believe me, i grew up eating mangoes. I remember when i was 7-8 yrs old our father used to pluck mangoes off our trees (our family has agricultural lands in South Nepal) and keep them in huge rice barrels to ripen, and when they did, he used to slice them, my brother would get one half, and I the other, and then the two sides of the flesh by the seed, each bite was heavenly and we would count each day until the next one ripened.. the passion for mangoes has stayed so until today. My purpose here is not to expose my dumbness and self-centeredness by posting tastings of mango videos. And i have no serious business here or in the youtube videos - you are right, I’m not a commercial grower and am not making money off of my love for mangoes. Youtube is a free platform, at least until now, until some very moral and politically correct people decide to make it PC, proper, pure, ‘unadulterated’ and accurate (the exact words used by Adolph Hitler, by the way). I don't think i am immature in eating mangoes - i have eaten them all my life. Actually, the reason I moved to FL after graduating was to grow and eat the best mangoes possible…. In fact, with my 200/hr salary i could go anywhere and settle anywhere in the US or the world but decided to settle here because both my wife and I love the heat and the mangoes.
Before we started to plant our garden, for 2 years we went to many many mango farms south, north and west of Miami, Broward and as far up as mangoes grow, talked to established growers. The first year we spent a fortune tasting all the mangoes. We considered that they would taste differently in different places and chose the varieties that tasted the best for US personally, not in general opinion or based on ANYONE’s reviews, even the “leaders of the board”. Everyone’s taste buds are different, everyone’s agendas in rating mangoes are also different, and I would never be so dumb as to plant 40 mango trees in MY garden based on reviews of forum members or based on youtube videos without tasting the varieties myself because i know mango taste changes from place to place, year to year, surprisingly tree to tree and importantly - person to person. As I’m not here to satisfy the general commercial taste, I do not make choices based on general consensus. I share my love for mangoes, not my professionalism or status in the mango world, whatever that could be.
You have commented upon my disclaimer and said this is smart, immoral and inaccurate. This disclaimer was needed so people don’t watch and rush to nursery to buy the tree or top work an existing tree . I don’t think people are that dumb; they watch reviews to reinforce their already formed opinion about a certain mango or to learn something new about that specific mango. Reviews in this forum are not sealed in time, they keep coming as people taste more mangoes. We will also be making videos as we progress through he season , videos on same varieties will come again and review on same variety will come again too. For example, if a mango is picked early and tastes bad, reviewer always says it was picked early, so there is a learning point there. Also, if a mango was picked after a week of rain and tasted bad, the reviewer says so and there is a learning point. I do that in my videos so the review is NOT ABOUT A MANGO BUT THE mango in my hand AT THAT MOMENT, picked in that month, that season, from a certain grove, certain microclimate. The disclaimer should have been enough, but doesn’t seem that it’s enough for you, so i needed to elaborate. Plus, it is like with anything else: cars or dogs or even your partner. People may like or hate the same variety, not everyone should love it. If everyone loved only one variety, or one person, you wouldn’t have that many varieties around. WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT AND LIKE DIFFERENT THINGS! Imagine if everyone loved the same woman, it would be a nightmare for the entire world!
Plus, even from your 28 cotton candy trees you will not get same taste every year, so please take these reviews and videos as reviews of mango of certain place, year and time in the history rather than review of THE mango of certain variety.
Many many people have come forward and told me how they liked the mango video reviews and how a certain taste thing i told in the video is what they felt while tasting it as well. I meet these kind hearted people while i go to Steve's at Hidden Acres to pick more mangoes, to Zills and meeting my friend mango lovers to share our experiences. Please do not take life seriously, the more lightness in the heart the more fun it is in growing and eating mangoes.