Wow!!! What an event!!! It was free, Gary spoke, and they had top-tier mangoes to sample!
My results were as follows(though it was really hard because there were people behind you waiting and they were all SO good!
My Favorites for tonight:
1.
Fruit Punch--First taste was like wow!!! Not all of the pieces I sampled tasted like hawaiian punch, but the first piece gary cut off for us was like a punch in the face! Simply amazing!!!
2.
PPK/Lemon Merengue--When they are not completely ripe, the taste isn't very good, but when perfectly ripe, they can win any table any day! Beat Lemon Zest tonight, though I don't think the first few pieces I got were perfectly ripe.
3.
Spirit of 76--great subacid/sweet blend!
4.
Juliette--something about it that appealed to my taste buds....finally I can say that Juliette does taste like Julie, at least to me....though the shape is different IIRC
5.
E-4: Mild, but excellent pineapple/mango flavor...very appetizing! Could eat them for a while at one time!
6.
Coconut Cream: didn't have the distinct coconut flavor like last year, but still great texture and sweetness.
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Very Good:
7.
Ugly Betty: Pretty straight-forward mango flavor sweet and great texture. Didn't stand out amongst the stars, but very good...and glad I have a tree.
8.
Valkyre (Valcarrie): Like Ugly Betty, this mango was difficult to distinguish but neither had anything off-putting about them. Both very good
9.
Lemon Zest--The GOAT scored low tonight because the samples I had were not at peak ripeness by any means...though most were--they did a great job. Still, could sense why it is the king from the flavor profile...definitely going to try more this summer.
10.
K-3-- Don't really recall the flavor profile, but it was fiberless, juicy, and had a good flavor.
11.
Karen Michelle--- Don't remember the Karen's last name
but it was a good mango. Had a Haden flavor profile IIRC, but was fiberless and better than Haden IMHO. If I had more time, I bet this would have been near the top....very good.
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Not worth the price of admission for mango snobs in S. FL:
12. Okrung--just not complex enough for me.
13. Diamond--didn't taste the vegetable flavor but definitely didn't steal the show, plus I had it last so had lots of good flavors on my tongue already.
14. Haden--much respect for the genetics, but we have moved past Haden (not that it is bad if you already had one in the yard, but again, see the mango snob title above
15. Carrie--tonight's carrie was the best i've had to date, but still not a fan of the texture.
16. Pim Sen Mun--while i understand this is a green mango in Asia, I just don't see why. PSM, when ripe, is one of my top 10 definitely...just love them. But these weren't even close when eaten green. They weren't terrible, but not sweet at all...maybe if I had it in between green and ripe it would be good but sweeter than these were....not rushing out to get green mangoes any time soon.
Afterward, got to sample some very good purple dragon fruit, some very good, crunchy jackfruit.
Topped it all off with durian vanilla ice cream....woah!! While I will withold judgment until tasting a fruit that isn't poor quality, I was able to get a sense of what teh flavor is like....a little gasoline/kerosene mixed with garlic, and the smell of ripening jackfruit. the vanilla ice ceam cut the durian flavor so it wasn't ad at all but ended up tasting like salty roasted garlic ice cream...not sweet even though it was mixed with vanilla.
Thank you PBRFC for a great night!!