Here you go JF:
This Banganpalli was still firm but I couldn't wait any longer so I cut it open. It was obviously not fully ripe as the flesh was yellow with parts of the outer edges just starting to turn a light orange color. As I cut the fruit, I could immediately smell the intensely strong piney resinous turpenes. I would hazard to say that this mango has more of the resinous flavor than Alphonso but the depth of the resinous flavor is stronger in Alphonso.
To elaborate, the Alphonso has a richer, more complex resinous flavor that lingers in my mouth much longer than that of the Banganpalli. The resinous smell and flavor from the Banganpalli is stronger but it is one dimensional. Upon seeing the yellowish flesh color, I was doubtful that the mango would be sweet. I took a Brix reading before tasting the fruit and the fruit only had a Brix reading of 16%.
My hopes were low because in general, I prefer mangos with Brix around 20%, but I was very very pleasantly surprised. After one bite, the intense sweetness made me believe I took a bad Brix reading so I cleaned and calibrated my refractometer and took another reading and it was still 16%. This mango is sweet, I ate an Alphonso yesterday with a Brix reading of 19% but my palate felt that this mango was sweeter.
The sweetness of this mango is one dimensional and tasted a bit like sugarcane juice that was juiced with the skin removed. Without the strong resinous flavor, this mango would not be very good in my honest opinion but the combination it has makes it an excellent mango.
This mango had minimal fiber, some would say non, around the seed. After I ate this mango, I thought to myself how similar it tastes compared to Alphonso. In summary, it was an excellent strong resinous sweet tasting mango that Indian Mango connoisseurs will surely love.
I believe that the complexity of the turpenes and the sugar acid balance of the Alphonso makes it taste less sweet when compared to the Banganpalli although my refractometer tells a different story. Perhaps the sugars from the juice of this slightly underripe fruit is not truely representative of the sugar imbedded in the flesh?
Please keep in mind that this is the first Banganpalli I've had this year and it was slightly underripe. The description I gave above may not be fully representative of what this variety normally tastes like. I should get fully ripe fruit within a day or two.
Simon