This season is my first experience with attempting to properly ripen a Mallika Mango. My trees produced about a dozen or so mature fruit, and I have been picking and ripening them for a few weeks. It has been difficult to determine the correct timing, as they did appear large and mature enough to me beginning in early June.
The first fruit I attempted to ripen did color change to a nice, beautiful yellow. When I cut it up however, it had almost zero sweetness. Obviously picked too early. Then over the past 6 weeks or so, I picked and ripened a number of the fruits. All were green when picked, and were various stages of yellow when "ripe". They were good, but not top tier, lacking enough sweetness to stand amongst the top dogs.
Then last friday, July 13th, Sheehan brought to the tasting table at Harry's 2 beautiful yellow Mallika's. They actually appeared fake, they were just that perfect looking. One was tree ripened, and one was picked green and ripened in a bag. They were both very good, and by far the best Mallika's I had had up to that point. Top 5 out of 20+ varieties at the table. Most agreed that the picked green individual tasted better, although some did prefer the tree ripened one. According to Sheehan's " Brix -o-meter", the picked green one had more sugar content.
Yesterday, I had Seadation over for a mini tasting. On the table were a fully ripened Khun See, Nam Doc Mai, Carrie, and Alphonso, and my Mallika that had been picked green on July 5, and ripened in a paper bag for 10 days. This (one amongst a group of 3) Mallika that I picked was not really yellow. More of a funky green with a mottled skin. It had been 10 days since picking, and they just "felt" right.
The result ? The best Mallika I have ever had. It was just delicious. Rich, complex sweet, with hints of citrus and vanilla. Destroyed the competition, and is burned into my memory as one of the best.
From Bottom left .. Nam Doc Mai, Nam Doc Mai, Mallika, Carrie, Khun See, Khun See