I'm a big fan of Indian Mangos and every year I eagerly wait for the announcement I get through email that Indian Mango season is almost upon us. According to the email I received, it should begin in about three weeks or around the week of April 11. The email said that the mangos are expected to ripen a week or two early this year. It also mentioned that there will be 3 US inspectors visiting India and Bangalore is a new province where Mangos will be harvested and shipped from.
There will be the usual suspects like Alphonso, Kesar, Chaunsa, White Chaunsa, Neelam, Mallika, Imam Passand, Langra, Dussehri, Ratol, Banganpalli along with some varieties I've yet to try like Rasalu, Sindhri Mancurad, Ratte Wala, Totapurri and Mulgova.
I believe I have read that reports out of Florida that Mulgova is an excellent tasting mango and I have definitely heard from my Indian friends that it is in fact a very excellent tasting fruit so hopefully the shipments will not disappoint.
Last year, the shipments of Kesar were absolutely amazing. The physical appearance of the fruit were blemish free and the internal qualities matched its appearance. Kesar was THE BEST Indian Mango last year in my opinion. It easily beat out Alphonso which was good but had internal breakdown issues and was not as sweet as the Kesar. The Alphonso may be one point higher than Kesar when comparing pure Indian Resin, Turpentine, flavor but Kesar wins out for overall taste.
The Kesars last year were in a league of its own with an excellent acid balance. Actually, it's not really acid balance as it was not Tart at all but there was something definitely there that the Alphonso did not have.
If you see Indian Mangos in the markets, please post here to notify the rest of us Indian Mango fanatics and please post pictures and flavor descriptions if possible. The Indian Mangos are supposed to start shipping in about three weeks but this is only if you pre ordered through one of the companies. For many of us waiting for Indian Mangos to show up in the local Indian Supermarkets, it can be a long ways off before we can satisfy our craving.
Simon