Florida Mango Feast (and Reviews) July 2013!

[Future]

The last two years, I've called this post the mango diet but alas, diet would appear to some as some form of restriction.  So this year I am calling it a feast.  I arrived in Miami on July 10 and immediately began the purchasing frenzy along Krome Ave.  This included some un-named jackfruit, mangoes, Mamey sapote and sapodillas. 

The first of the Mamey sapotes was blended with coconut milk and made a delicious smoothie.  Absolutely.

The jackfruit is super, take apart with your bare hands ripe.  The latex was as sticky as I have ever seen but I did manage to squeeze most arils out without invasive efforts.  Still, I had to wash my hands a few times thereafter.  The fruit was good, though at $2 per pound for an 11lb fruit, you quickly see that half of the fruit isn't edible.  So maybe the edible parts are $4 per lb.  About 1/3 of the fruit plus a sapodilla completed a meal.

This morning I blended the other half of the mamey which pleased just the same and ghen ate one of the unnamed mangoes.  Nothing to write home about in that case.  Jackfruit followed.

Today we ventured up to Zills and Truly Tropical.

Verna greeted us with an abundance of Keitt mangoes.  (We knew this is all they had from calling).  We chatted about various topics and she showed me the original Pickering tree.  By the way they have a plot of land with mature mango trees (mostly Keitt) up for sale for those interested.

The we met with Chris at Truly Tropical.  There we scored

1. Ice Cream
2. Bailey's
3. Mulgoba
4. A Mulgolba seedling (much larger)
5. Cogshall
6. PPK/Lemon Meringue
7. Carrie
8. Ryan
9. Fairchild
10. Dot

Quite a nice space Chris has.  So, I'll be reporting on each of these as I make my way through them.  As other gems come along, I'll add them to the mix.

My most wanted list from prior years are: Ivory, Manzanillo, Mammou, Iman Pasand, Borsha, Martian Pride and Royal.

Looking fwd to reconnecting with King Harry and of course seeing what Fairchild has to offer on Saturday.  Plus, a trip to Colorfield for their mango festival hasn't been ruled out for next week.

So here is to all the mango growers, mango lovers and great mangoes.   

Pictures coming soon.

[mikesid]

Looks like I just missed you..and you took all the ripe mangoes! Glad to see you had a good time!

[Future]

Looks like I just missed you..and you took all the ripe mangoes! Glad to see you had a good time!

Ha!  Yes I got some fruit, the sellers got some loot.  A win-win situation.  See you tomorrow.

[Future]

Today's tasting:

First up to bat was Po Pyu Kalay (PPK) aka Lemon Meringue.  WOW.  I loved this fruit.  Definitely stood up to the hype.  Rich and intensely sweet.  Mine may have been slightly overripe but was great nonetheless.  Reminded me a little of Ivory but with more zing to it.  A great sweet and zingy combo.  Love it.

Next up to bat was Mulgoba.  Sometimes sequence matters.  Having just eaten the PPK, there wasn't much that had a chance to knock my socks after that.  Mulgoba was tart, not very sweet.  Edible but nothing to write home about.  I kept the seed nonetheless as Chris of Truly Tropical has found some interesting seedling children from this variety (twice the size of the original and more robust trees she said). 

Carrie and Fairchild may have their day tomorrow. Most everything else is rock hard at the minute....

Sapodilla is still pleasing as are the Mamey smoothies.  Didn't even have room for jackfruit dessert.  Imagine that.

[Future]

Truly Tropical and Zills Mangoes

[Future]

Breakfast today: after another Mamey smoothie, some red fleshed pawpaw, the pink leshed guava and some more of the jackfruit, I felt and smelt though the mangoes and decided on a Carrie.  This was juicy, smooth but not super sweet.  Tasted good but with PPK still on my mind, I couldn't see this mango Carrie-ing the day (excuse the pun).  In isolation it would probably be rated as very good.

[puglvr1]

Breakfast today: after another Mamey smoothie, some red fleshed pawpaw, the pink leshed guava and some more of the jackfruit, I felt and smelt though the mangoes and decided on a Carrie.  This was juicy, smooth but not super sweet.  Tasted good but with PPK still on my mind, I couldn't see this mango Carrie-ing the day (excuse the pun).  In isolation it would probably be rated as very good.

Future...what is that large mango on the bottom of your picture (your largest mango) looks like a Cogshall...

Will that ripen properly? I have some mango on my trees right now that looks like that...hard as a rock looks immature so I don't want to pick it quite yet...but the Critters have eaten some of the green immature ones already and I really want to pick them but afraid they will just soften and end up rotting instead of ripening?

[BestDay]

Sounds like a great trip so far and a nice assortment of mangos.  I'm really jealous.  I'm ready for another Florida trip.  Let us know what you think of the Dots.  Make sure you eat them ripe to slightly under ripe (at least that's what I've been told).

Bill

[Future]

Breakfast today: after another Mamey smoothie, some red fleshed pawpaw, the pink leshed guava and some more of the jackfruit, I felt and smelt though the mangoes and decided on a Carrie.  This was juicy, smooth but not super sweet.  Tasted good but with PPK still on my mind, I couldn't see this mango Carrie-ing the day (excuse the pun).  In isolation it would probably be rated as very good.

Future...what is that large mango on the bottom of your picture (your largest mango) looks like a Cogshall...

Will that ripen properly? I have some mango on my trees right now that looks like that...hard as a rock looks immature so I don't want to pick it quite yet...but the Critters have eaten some of the green immature ones already and I really want to pick them but afraid they will just soften and end up rotting instead of ripening?

That is a seedling of Mulgoba, apparent parent of Haden, grown by Chris at Truly Tropical.

[Future]

Sounds like a great trip so far and a nice assortment of mangos.  I'm really jealous.  I'm ready for another Florida trip.  Let us know what you think of the Dots.  Make sure you eat them ripe to slightly under ripe (at least that's what I've been told).

Bill

Thanks for the note.  We learned a lot today at the lectures.  Ataulfo can last for 3 weeks and is best eaten shriveled.  Tree branches greater than 3 inches get pruned in the Fairchild method of growing small trees (no branch is allowed to get older than 5 years).  They highly recommend rocky infertile soil for growing mangoes...which sounds odd next to fertilization regimes others have.  Among other things.


I bought a ridiculous quantity of mangoes, even by my standards.  Well begin writing up a full list soon.

This eve we ate another Fairchild and a Ryan.  The Ryan was fruity, juicy and good to eat but was no competition for the delectable sweetness of the Fairchild.  Tomorrow is looking like Cogshall and a unnamed variety.

[Future]

Today's purchases:




This includes some Rapoza and Bruce canistels I drove to Robert is Here to get after leaving Fairchild.

[Future]

Most of what I was looking for was not available at Fairchild.  No Nam Docs, no Mammou (except for auction tomorrow), no Borsha, no Manzanillo.  Try did have a few Martian Pride, small as they were.  And many I had never heard of (many names by Dr. Campbell's children apparently).  Not much on offer from SE Asian (I need poly seed from this region to navigate rain every month of the year and windy winters that beat up flowers). 

[Future]

Speaking of Mammou, I asked Dr. Campbell his views on its orgins seeing as I can find nothing on the web.  He reckons is may be a indochina variety that has been falsely attributed to Thailand.  No one he as ever spoken to in Thailand has ever heard of it.  Either way, I enjoy this gem.  Very unique texture and super sweet.

[zands]

Sounds like a great trip so far and a nice assortment of mangos.  I'm really jealous.  I'm ready for another Florida trip.  Let us know what you think of the Dots.  Make sure you eat them ripe to slightly under ripe (at least that's what I've been told).

Bill

Thanks for the note.  We learned a lot today at the lectures.  Ataulfo can last for 3 weeks and is best eaten shriveled.  Tree branches greater than 3 inches get pruned in the Fairchild method of growing small trees (no branch is allowed to get older than 5 years).  They highly recommend rocky infertile soil for growing mangoes...which sounds odd next to fertilization regimes others have. 

Their advice for growing small bushy trees is good if this is what you want. I am in the more (mango) trees but smaller camp. But some still want one or two mango trees that just grow big. I met a guy with two huge mango trees in his backyard. Both had 18" trunks. I bought a seedling tree from him////not grafted that came from one of them

They highly recommend rocky infertile soil for growing mangoes.

This is wrong and highly misleading. Use a good fertilizer with minor elements at least until the mango tree has been fruiting well for a year or two. My largest mango trees do not get NPK now. Only K or nothing. But if you want a young small non-fruiting tree to grow to adulthood and fruiting stage at a decent rate....... Then use a good fertilizer w minors as Zill and Excalibur recommend

I was mislead and used just K or nothing (Fairchild's advice in an email to me) on young trees and it delayed growth.

Here are Zill fertilization recommendations/ You can magnify via pressing control and + on your keyboard a few times>>>>>>  http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6015/5905298900_05f84f80ee_b.jpg

[Future]

We just finished a 4 hour drive north to eat the rest of the bounty.

Myatrynat:  This was sold to me as a south East Asian mango but later I saw it is actually Indian.  (I need SE Asian varieties to deal with no dry periods during the year in Bermuda).  This was slightly under-ripe but still tasted good.  I could see its potential but will leave the rest a little longer before reaching a conclusion on its potential. 

Sunset:  This was a middle of the road mango, and I don't mean that in a bad way.  It had a slightly fruity scent, was slightly rich and slightly sweet.  All in this is a good combo but its wasn't strong on any one of those points.  Would beat a supermarket mango any day of the week but did not knock my socks off.

Rapoza:  Rapoza carried the day today.  Ultra fiberless, silky smooth, sweet and just plain delightful.  Shame someone renamed this Hawaiian selection 'Florida Red'.  I drove quite a distance to get it after talking to Eric of Pine Island (volunteeing at Fairchild) and him advising me that Robert is Here had piles of them.  It was worth the drive.  In fact, my wife is gulping and slurping away at this mango as I type.  For those who had wet windy winters like we do, this mango sounds ideal.  According to Frankie of Hawaii: if flowers are damaged or don't set fruit, it continues to push out flowers until they set fruit.  Most of the mangoes planted in Bermuda are from supermarket junk and few if any have this quality.  Very much needed.  I have 3 or 4 left, one of which is huge.  A huge mango with top notch quality would be a gem.

[Future]

Here are the other purchases:

Big Saturn
Eldon
Florigon
Myatrynat
Brooks
Hatcher
BD-19-21
Jakarta
Plutonic Pleasure
Baileys
Sensation
Ice Cream
Lemon Meringue /PPK
Keitt
Sunset
Rapoza
Juicy Jupiter
Martian Pride
Valencia Pride
Zilate
Dot
Mulgoba seedling
Itamaraca
Peach
Veluptuous Venus
Langra

[fruitlovers]

Rapoza carried the day today.  Ultra fiberless, silky smooth, sweet and just plain delightful.  Shame someone renamed this Hawaiian selection 'Florida Red'.

Another attempt to usurp the credit by Floridians?    At the other extreme it seems some Floridians are inventing Hawaiian names like St. Maui and Hawaiian Dwarf. If these really are Hawaiian mango cultivars why aren't they here??

[Future]

Rapoza carried the day today.  Ultra fiberless, silky smooth, sweet and just plain delightful.  Shame someone renamed this Hawaiian selection 'Florida Red'.

Another attempt to usurp the credit by Floridians?    At the other extreme it seems some Floridians are inventing Hawaiian names like St. Maui and Hawaiian Dwarf. If these really are Hawaiian mango cultivars why aren't they here??

So S.T. Maui comes frm where?  Who?

[HMHausman]

Here are the other purchases:

Big Saturn
Eldon
Florigon
Myatrynat
Brooks
Hatcher
BD-19-21
Jakarta
Plutonic Pleasure
Baileys
Sensation
Ice Cream
Lemon Meringue /PPK
Keitt
Sunset
Rapoza
Juicy Jupiter
Martian Pride
Valencia Pride
Zilate
Dot
Mulgoba seedling
Itamaraca
Peach
Veluptuous Venus
Langra

I know someone is obviously trying to get astronomical marketing attention from their mango names, but I am having a bit of trouble getting my head around Plutonic Pleasure and just what that might entail.

[Future]

Breakfast:

Martian Pride - lemony pleasantness.  Sweet, slightly tangy and very smooth.  Yellow fleshed.

Ice Cream: scrumptious yellow fleshed mango.  This was slightly under-ripe but I could see how great a ripe one would be.  Even in this state I could hardly remember what Martian Pride was like.  Ice Cream had taken over my brain.  It had that slight chalky taste similar to an underripe lemon zest - a very pleasant feature.  Love this divinely coloured, scented and sweet mango.

[Heartwood]

Here are the other purchases:

Big Saturn
Eldon
Florigon
Myatrynat
Brooks
Hatcher
BD-19-21
Jakarta
Plutonic Pleasure
Baileys
Sensation
Ice Cream
Lemon Meringue /PPK
Keitt
Sunset
Rapoza
Juicy Jupiter
Martian Pride
Valencia Pride
Zilate
Dot
Mulgoba seedling
Itamaraca
Peach
Veluptuous Venus
Langra

I know someone is obviously trying to get astronomical marketing attention from their mango names, but I am having a bit of trouble getting my head around Plutonic Pleasure and just what that might entail.

So was I, but I was too polite to say anything.

[Mr. Clean]

Rapoza:  Rapoza carried the day today.  Ultra fiberless, silky smooth, sweet and just plain delightful.  Shame someone renamed this Hawaiian selection 'Florida Red'.  I drove quite a distance to get it after talking to Eric of Pine Island (volunteeing at Fairchild) and him advising me that Robert is Here had piles of them.  It was worth the drive.  In fact, my wife is gulping and slurping away at this mango as I type.  For those who had wet windy winters like we do, this mango sounds ideal.  According to Frankie of Hawaii: if flowers are damaged or don't set fruit, it continues to push out flowers until they set fruit.  Most of the mangoes planted in Bermuda are from supermarket junk and few if any have this quality.  Very much needed.  I have 3 or 4 left, one of which is huge.  A huge mango with top notch quality would be a gem.

Are you sure?  The Rapoza I saw at the F&S Park were larger than the Florida Red I saw at Robert Is Here.  The Rapoza also had splitting issues on the top of the fruit.

[Future]

Rapoza:  Rapoza carried the day today.  Ultra fiberless, silky smooth, sweet and just plain delightful.  Shame someone renamed this Hawaiian selection 'Florida Red'.  I drove quite a distance to get it after talking to Eric of Pine Island (volunteeing at Fairchild) and him advising me that Robert is Here had piles of them.  It was worth the drive.  In fact, my wife is gulping and slurping away at this mango as I type.  For those who had wet windy winters like we do, this mango sounds ideal.  According to Frankie of Hawaii: if flowers are damaged or don't set fruit, it continues to push out flowers until they set fruit.  Most of the mangoes planted in Bermuda are from supermarket junk and few if any have this quality.  Very much needed.  I have 3 or 4 left, one of which is huge.  A huge mango with top notch quality would be a gem.

Are you sure?  The Rapoza I saw at the F&S Park were larger than the Florida Red I saw at Robert Is Here.  The Rapoza also had splitting issues on the top of the fruit.

Are you asking if I am I sure they are one and the same?  If so, yes.

[fruitlovers]

Here are the other purchases:

Big Saturn
Eldon
Florigon
Myatrynat
Brooks
Hatcher
BD-19-21
Jakarta
Plutonic Pleasure
Baileys
Sensation
Ice Cream
Lemon Meringue /PPK
Keitt
Sunset
Rapoza
Juicy Jupiter
Martian Pride
Valencia Pride
Zilate
Dot
Mulgoba seedling
Itamaraca
Peach
Veluptuous Venus
Langra

I know someone is obviously trying to get astronomical marketing attention from their mango names, but I am having a bit of trouble getting my head around Plutonic Pleasure and just what that might entail.

So was I, but I was too polite to say anything.

Pluto is not even a planet any more! Why didn't they include Uranus? Hate to think what they would have done with that name! HAHA

[Future]

Another PPK, Rapoza, and Sunset for dinner.  I am eating these under-ripe form lack of time.  (All must be eaten by the 21st before I travel).  Dot is ripening as is Rapoza and Ice Cream for tomorrow.