2020 Early Mango Tasting: please share all tastings before May 1

[Honest Abe]

Hey y’all mango fanatics, I cruised up to Alex’s place in Palm Beach and bought everything he had in the “picked” crate. I always wanted to meet Alex and he Was super cool and knowledgeable as I expected. Alex’s Grove is the chocolate factory and Alex is Willy Wonka(in a very good way)I was excited to try some super early mangoes because who doesn’t like the notion of potentially having mangoes in April ripening in their yard? I’m a novice but  Most cultivars differ slightly chronologically from year-to year but early or mid or late holds true.

So I figured I’d share my taste opinion on each because they are not widely discussed varieties on the forum. I cannot speak to the productivity, disease resistance or anything valuable to a grower, but guys like Har and Alex and pros like them will handle that. This post is about Early Mango TASTE. (IMO)


Here’s what Alex sold me in order of my preference:

“Edward”:
Excellent “Miami mango,” sweet, dense, fiberless and very creamy(seems best when barely soft to touch). Bright Orange and very Juicy. Julian Lara of Lara farms told me it’s in his top 5 and always will be. Medium sized.











“Duncan” :
Not a favorite of me or the wife. When eaten a bit early, it is very bitter towards skin and tangy/zesty towards the seed. When left to soften a bit more, it tasted like a mild Peach towards the seed, pleasant but not delicious, and also very resinous/bitter toward the skin. Fiberless, light, soft flesh. Me and my wife did not enjoy it very much, just a mild, peachy mango with bitter skin. I’d call it “decent”.Medium sized.









“Rosigold” :

When cut, there is a floral aroma, when eaten it tasted how it smelled. Floral, must have been named for the flavor as-well as the skin appearance. The wife and I would not add it to our collection. It was so floral and piney that we cannot see adding it to the yard UNLESS you MUST have an April Mango, but even then it is a complex mango, floral and bitter at the skin. Fiberless and soft. Small.





“Philippine” :
When eaten early it is like a spoon half full of honey and half full
Of fresh lime juice. Very soft flesh at any ripe stage. Fiberless. Small. When eaten later and softer its just a good honey mango. Simple honey flavor, not overpoweringly sweet. We like it, but not a “wow” mango by any means. Very good sliced with yogurt or over sticky coconut rice. Small
Fruit but very high yield of flesh for its size as the seed is flat.








PLEASE SHARE ALL VERY EARLY
MANGO TASTINGS (BEFORE MAY 1st)

THANK YOU ALL AND PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS JUST MY OPINION I AM A NOVICE BACKYARD GROWER WITH A MANGO OBSESSION.

[Cookie Monster]

Duncan and rosigold are a bit variable in terms of flavor.

When I had a rosigold tree, the early (march - april) crop was outstanding but the summer crop was not so good.

Early duncan fruit tend to be bland (lacking brix). Later season duncan are very, very good and much sweeter. And the tree is highly disease resistant and very productive.

Edward is pretty much always excellent. I adore that mango.

[Honest Abe]

Jeff, that is the kind of response i was hoping to inspire! Thanks for the great info I have heard many times that first and second crops of the same cultivar can differ greatly in flavor, or not depending on the cultivar. I’ll give Duncan another shot later in season.

Much appreciated and I hope you add some tastings of early mangoes to this if possible.

Thanks,

- Capt. Abie Raymond

[Honest Abe]

Just tasted

“Wester”

A pleasant “decent” mild-peach flavor with soft flesh and no fiber. I wouldn’t kick it out of bed but also wouldn’t plant one or eat it out of hand by choice again. Medium sized. Would be great for bread or pie. Not very sweet but that’s good for baking.

[mangokothiyan]

Just finished posting about Florigon. The early season fruits are bland and have a watery flavor but the fruits from the second bloom are usually quite good.

My son picked a few ripe Lemon Meringue mangoes a couple of days ago. That mango is always a treat.

Carrie and NDM #4 look next in line.

[Honest Abe]

Just tasted

“Glenn”
In my opinion a good Classic “miami mango flavor”, simple, mildly sweet and fiberless flesh. Certainly nothing out of this world.




“Florigon”

Me and my wife agreed was washed out, bland and just barely sweet with mild Notes of tang. Fiberless, but boring. I’m not a fan for my backyard but I’m picky, even though I hear very disease-resistant.

I must add I just has three more “Edward” and I’ve fallen for them hard. I’m in love. I said “Edward” was excellent but I’d like to upgrade to PHENOMENAL. I’ll seek Info on the candidacy of “Edward” for a Miami backyard grower. I LOVE this cultivar.

[johnb51]

Lemon Meringue (PPK) picked green and ripened off the tree.  Lemon flavor is definitely present.  Mildly sweet.  (Would have acquired more sugar if left on tree longer, but was removed due to thieving problem with neighbor.  I'll tell you the whole story if you really want to know!)  Medium fiber.  (Dinner plate.)

[palmcity]

I’ll seek Info on the candidacy of “Edward” for a Miami backyard grower. I LOVE this cultivar.

Huge tree fast grower so a huge backyard would match it's growth. More years of zero to low fruit than many other varieties.

Rosigold: Nice peachy flesh similar to Glen. Unfortunately I am use to sampling the skin by habit and this variety has a very very bitter skin that I often forget about until it's in my mouth. Often fungus & bacteria infections so spraying is needed in my yard and very similar to Madem Francis in this susceptibility in my location.

[Honest Abe]

Lemon Meringue (PPK) picked green and ripened off the tree.  Lemon flavor is definitely present.  Mildly sweet.  (Would have acquired more sugar if left on tree longer, but was removed due to thieving problem with neighbor.  I'll tell you the whole story if you really want to know!)  Medium fiber.  (Dinner plate.)

Looks interesting, man I would have thought with this drought they would be very sweet, even early. Nice move to evade the thievin’-coyote -Neighbor. I hear that PPK Is a “top 5”or many great growers like yourself.  I aim to try one soon, maybe this years fruit and spice fest if it happens.

[Honest Abe]

I’ll seek Info on the candidacy of “Edward” for a Miami backyard grower. I LOVE this cultivar.

Huge tree fast grower so a huge backyard would match it's growth. More years of zero to low fruit than many other varieties.

Rosigold: Nice peachy flesh similar to Glen. Unfortunately I am use to sampling the skin by habit and this variety has a very very bitter skin that I often forget about until it's in my mouth. Often fungus & bacteria infections so spraying is needed in my yard and very similar to Madem Francis in this susceptibility in my location.

Thanks for the info! I will take your advice and NOT plant one if low
Production. I like productivity, disease resistance and SWEET. Size doesn’t matter too much to me have a big yard and will try to keep my mango trees  12x12ft. Thanks again

[johnb51]

Lemon Meringue will get very sweet on the tree.  My friend has an old lady in her neighborhood that thinks it's her right to go in other yards and steal fruit while people are away making an honest living.  Even when told she's trespassing and breaking the law, her reply is, "What's wrong with you?  I only want a few fruit."  That's why my friend stripped her tree.  If it were me, I'd probably deal with it in some other way.  I don't care that she's a senior citizen if she's blatantly breaking the law and disrespecting her neighbors.

I wanted to give a shout-out to all the great citrus from California--navel oranges and tangerines--that has been available in our supermarkets for the last 3 months.  It's been very sweet and outstanding!  A great year for California citrus.

[Honest Abe]

Carrie: just a good, sweet, smooth fiberless Fresh CARROT with very thin skin.

Cogshall: bland, low-fiber soft flesh, tasted like sweet "windex" (yes the spray chemical glass cleaner) with mild hints of sweet mango, lbeautiful looking fruit though.

Lemon Meringue/PPK: a Delicious, rich Creamy Lemon Meringue Pie blast with a sweet mango after-taste, delicious all the way to the skin and back to the pit. Some fiber. A top 5 mango for me. If nobody told me it was called lemon meringue, I still would have thought that immediately.

I will continue to try to post tastings of the rest unless I go back to work soon (hopefully)