The Best Mango - On any given Sunday

[Sleepdoc]

It was great to sit down today with Friends and continue our traditional, annual, Mango Snob evaluation and Feeding Frenzy.  A few key players were missing - but the core was there, as well as a new official 8 year old snob in the making.  HMHausman(King Harry), Murahilin, cbss_daviefl, PDiddy, and myself stuffed our faces and rated more mangoes than 5 humans should really eat.





I can’t remember all of the varieties we tried, but here is a list off the top of my head:
E-4
Edward
Guava
Taralay
Dupree
Lemon Zest
Orange Sherbet
Pineapple Pleasure
J12
Ice Cream
Dot
Coconut Cream
Haden
Sweet Tart
Maha Chanok
Fruit Punch
Peach Cobbler
Edgar
Venus
San Felipe
Rapoza

There were definitely more varieties than above at the table.  My memory is probably obscured a little bit by the sugar coma the feast put me in.

My top 3 -

E-4
Sweet Tart
Dot.

Many others were really great, some off, and some falling short of potential and previous years.

As always it goes - not everyone’s top 3 were the same, with my son’s top 3 being J12, Dot, Fruit Punch...

[strkpr00]

That is one lucky young man.

[cbss_daviefl]

Friends and mangos, doesn't get much better than that.

Top 3: E4, dot, J12/super julie.

Angie, pina colada, valcarrie, pickering, cushman, harvest moon, florigon, duncan, and sunrise are some of the others we also tasted.

[HMHausman]

I'm just awaking from a mango induced coma.  It was a really great get together.  Thanks to all for their generosity and to Brandon for being such a gracious host.  It was good to see everyone. I really can't pick a clear best of the best. I think that the top three mentioned are as good a choice as any. I think my mango evaluating portion of my brain was just completely overwhelmed and totally out of practice. I'm looking to the next meeting to try to get back into the swing of awarding a blue ribbon with so many delicious mangoes to choose from.

[FamilyJ]

this year my fav was Beverly

[Future]

My top three were Green Skin, D104, and Kuhn Po Ang Bak. Oh, wait, those are Durian and I'm still in Malaysia...no wonder I missed this...Florida next.

[beefyboy]

Nice to see Dot in so many peoples top 3. I find it timeless due to it's unique canned peaches flavor fresh off a tree!

[beefyboy]

Would like to know if anyone has tried any Phoenix mangoes this year? I had only one and it had potential but only fair. Steve from Fruitscapes said he is disappointed and all have been sour tasting. We both have trees of this variety and are crossing are fingers! He has one on his tree and fruited it early to see if the tree stays or goes. My tree will fruit next year, I waited longer!

[cbss_daviefl]

Yes, we tried a phoenix. I had picked a phoenix from my tree last Monday to allow it to ripen for Sunday but it was picked too early. It was soft but sour, just like a dot that is picked too early. I have 3 more fruit and I will let them get soft on the tree before picking.

[AloeThere]

Wow! Nice variety of tastings.  Did you grow the mangoes?  Just bought an Orange Sherbet tree yesterday.

[cbss_daviefl]

Most of the varieties came from Sleepdoc's yard or my yard. The others were grown by CookieMonster, Walter Zill, and Zill HPP.

[beefyboy]

Thanks for that info Brandon! The one Phoenix I tasted at Fruitscapes was grown by Zills and was for a taste testing Steve had for a few of us. I did not taste sour with that one but it was definitely picked too early. I did notice it had potential however! I am impressed with how clean the tree is, much improved over my Dot and a more upright grower.

[DeeMango]

My top three were Green Skin, D104, and Kuhn Po Ang Bak. Oh, wait, those are Durian and I'm still in Malaysia...no wonder I missed this...Florida next.

Bring back some of those Durian to Florida. We're planning to get some Mu something other than the usual Monthong and it's going to cost us $10/pound for a frozen durian.

[zands]

.

[Future]

The mangoes listed comprise an amazing line up.  Nothing there is a slouch.  Glad to see people are getting their hands on E-4.  It is a top 10 mango for me.  Dot is usually excellent, often winning without the hype...was LZ off this year?

[Sleepdoc]

LZ has been off.  My large and productive tree was snapped to near the base by Irma.  Hard to say how the fruit from that tree would have been, but I suspect they would have been better than what we sampled. 

[baccarat0809]

Great mango reviews by the original Broward taste testers. What did you eat for the interludes to take away from the mango tastes? So you could taste (savor) the next mangoes better? I don't think you can compete with JF's mother when JF throws a Los Angeles mango do.

On any given Sunday, an inferior but ripe backyard mango is better than a store bought mango. This is 85% true.
At Aldi yesterday they were selling large Florida mangoes. 59¢ each. Hard but red and colorful. Publix also usually brings in real Fl mangoes this time of year. Broward meat and Fish must have too.
Anyone who buys from Aldi Publix, let it sit for a few days, let us know how it pans out.

Aldi also has the ripest looking Lake Chelan cherries for $1.79/lb. I abstained due to local mangoes. I track cherry prices and back in 2004 the first cherries of the season were $2.39 or so and would sink back to $1.99 as they flooded in and improved.

Hass prices are also down due to many Mexican plantations coming on line. Getting Hass avocado on the East Coast used to mean it was California grown and more expensive. Mexican grown going for 49¢ twice within the last month.

Publix mango's have been too pricey - not worth buying anytime of year.

Winn Dixie's had mango's as low as 50c but they were very, very small and they were from Mexico - no variety listed.  They were rock hard but very colorful - lots of bright red colors and attractive but I've stayed away.

Safeway in Altamonte Springs had some very large Tommy Atkins in that were excellent.  They took almost a week to soften up but when they did they were great. I paid as little as 59c and as much as $1.00. These were the best of the regular mango's that I've had.

Fancy Fruit has had mangos from Florida, Dominica Republic and Atalufo from .  The Florida mangos are sweet but very "washed out" and have been going for 79c to 99c each.  The fruit almost looks striped as many are leaking juice from the top.  The D.R. looked like a large Atalufo but were greener and much, much larger - those have been priced $1.19 to $1.39.  It was spicy and sweet and had a lot of piney taste close to the skin.  The regular Atalufo have been just fantastic.  Sweet and complex tasting.  Some of the best Atalufo's I've had.  They've been $1.00 to $1.19.

Whole Foods has had Florida Mango's but they're Organic and way too expensive so I haven't tried those.  They also had Atalufo's at $1.00 each.  Those Atalufo's have been very sweet but not complex.  Also many of those have had aborted seeds so the husk on the inside of the fruit has been tiny - a lot of fruit since the seed casing is small.

[bsbullie]

Sad, truly sad what this thread has turned into...

[zands]

The Florida mangos are sweet but very "washed out" and have been going for 79c to 99c each.  The fruit almost looks striped as many are leaking juice from the top. 

Sorry to only take a bit from your post. Yes, many of my home grown have leaked lots of sap from the top due our rainier than usual spring into summer. This leakage attacts ambient black mold from the air and makes many mangoes ugly. The black color is only on the surafce but this will still scare off people. I have cut into and eaten many ugly ones and they are delicious. The serious mango eaters that come here to acquire know what the score is once I explain it minimally.

Example -- I have had lovely normal coloration Pickering mangoes and also ones that have gotten lots of black striping downward due to the mold + sap drippings

[Orkine]

baccarat0809, you trolling Rob??

We have to fix this.  I am out of the country but should be back in a week or so.  I know it has been raining a lot and don't know what shape my fruits are but they have to be better than anything you will bet at a Publix or Safeway.

Check your PM

[johnb51]

I don't know how anyone could discuss supermarket mangos when the topic is The Best Mango.

[baccarat0809]

Orkine - actually not trolling him at all and a big thank you for your PM to me.

Sometimes I'm just a bit naive and I'm sorry I got him mad at me.  People higher up in the thread were talking about their grocery store finds and I just talked a bit about what I found locally here.

Coming from Buffalo, New York, snow capital of the world where the best price we ever saw on mangos was 3 for $5.00, after moving to Central Florida and starting to learn my way around a bit (and a huge thanks to all here that i've learned from), i honestly thought i was contributing something.  Had no intent to take away from the original poster or get bs mad at me or was trying to troll him.  I look up to him and all the other more experienced folks too numerous to mention for their feedback and especially their answers when I've had questions.

I unfortunately haven't had a chance to take a trip down to South Florida for this mango season and with work and all I'm not sure I'll be able to so to bs, the OP and others at the event please take my apology.  Didn't mean anything by it.

[Cookie Monster]

Don't mind the mango snobs :-)

I've actually had some decent store mangoes: Ataulfo from Mexico tend to be good.

Orkine - actually not trolling him at all and a big thank you for your PM to me.

Sometimes I'm just a bit naive and I'm sorry I got him mad at me.  People higher up in the thread were talking about their grocery store finds and I just talked a bit about what I found locally here.

Coming from Buffalo, New York, snow capital of the world where the best price we ever saw on mangos was 3 for $5.00, after moving to Central Florida and starting to learn my way around a bit (and a huge thanks to all here that i've learned from), i honestly thought i was contributing something.  Had no intent to take away from the original poster or get bs mad at me or was trying to troll him.  I look up to him and all the other more experienced folks too numerous to mention for their feedback and especially their answers when I've had questions.

I unfortunately haven't had a chance to take a trip down to South Florida for this mango season and with work and all I'm not sure I'll be able to so to bs, the OP and others at the event please take my apology.  Didn't mean anything by it.

[WGphil]

You might want to try Merritt Island to taste mango

Much closer and much better than store bought

But do yourself a favor and do a day trip down to the Palm Beach area and shop the best mangos

They will let you sample and you will leave as s member of the mango snobs

[DeeMango]

Don't mind the mango snobs :-)

I've actually had some decent store mangoes: Ataulfo from Mexico tend to be good.

I appreciate Mexican Atulfo when all of my favorite mangoes are out of season and I'm jonesing for anything that is not a Tommy Atkins.