Author Topic: Mango Reviews  (Read 283549 times)

JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #100 on: July 30, 2013, 11:25:28 PM »
Here is an Edward mango I purchased from ensy's:









This Edward mango had some interesting coloration being light brown with pink, canary yellow and white spots. It weighed 434g and was 4.25in long. When I cut the mango open it exposed a butterscotch colored flesh with some watery juice. The flesh was soft, fiberless, and had a juicy feel but some creamy texture to it not skewed in either direction. There was great flesh to seed ratio and the seed is a monoembryonic seed. The taste was sweet, not tangy, of good mango flavor. I didn't taste anything out of the ordinary no resin, citrus, other fruit nuance or Indian funkiness, I think the Edward is not a complex mango the focus is on the sweetness of mango flavor in a balanced texture of juicy/creamy flesh what's not to like right?  People are nuts about Edward. I see Edward in many peoples top 5's, 10's ect. What this illustrates is that although taste is subjective there are commonly appreciated traits to what people atribute to a highly rated mango for example fiberless, sweetness, flavorfull, texture, unique taste and either the mango has those aspects or it doesnt. What I also see is that certain varieties are more commonly available or have just been around for longer and that the top 5's and 10's change slightly overtime as newer cultivars are developed and rare cultivars become more widely available. Probably the best method to see what one likes is to try as many as one can. Still working on it ; )

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Slopfog

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #101 on: July 31, 2013, 12:03:14 AM »
Here is an Edward mango I purchased from ensy's:

This Edward mango had some interesting coloration being light brown with pink, canary yellow and white spots. It weighed 434g and was 4.25in long. When I cut the mango open it exposed a butterscotch colored flesh with some watery juice. The flesh was soft, fiberless, and had a juicy feel but some creamy texture to it not skewed in either direction. There was great flesh to seed ratio and the seed is a monoembryonic seed. The taste was sweet, not tangy, of good mango flavor. I didn't taste anything out of the ordinary no resin, citrus, other fruit nuance or Indian funkiness, I think the Edward is not a complex mango the focus is on the sweetness of mango flavor in a balanced texture of juicy/creamy flesh what's not to like right?  People are nuts about Edward. I see Edward in many peoples top 5's, 10's ect. What this illustrates is that although taste is subjective there are commonly appreciated traits to what people atribute to a highly rated mango for example fiberless, sweetness, flavorfull, texture, unique taste and either the mango has those aspects or it doesnt. What I also see is that certain varieties are more commonly available or have just been around for longer and that the top 5's and 10's change slightly overtime as newer cultivars are developed and rare cultivars become more widely available. Probably the best method to see what one likes is to try as many as one can. Still working on it ; )

I remember trying Edward a few years back and being blown away by it. It's been a couple years since I got my hands on them, but this year I found them to be good... But not great. Most I've gotten were from MI but I did get some from a private residence in WPB.  I'm not sure if I'm chasing the high or Edward gets washed out in years with lots of rain or something. But as I've said before, the worst Kent I've had this year is better than the best Edward!

MangoFang

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #102 on: July 31, 2013, 01:27:30 PM »
Joe - I just LOVE that little scale of yours - it's a piece of
delicious art all on it's own..... :D



Gary

JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #103 on: July 31, 2013, 09:39:07 PM »
Here is a cogshall I purchased from truly tropical:








The coloration on this mango was green, pink and yellow blended into each other with white spots. The mango weighed 381g and was 5in long. When I cut open the mango it revealed a yellow gold flesh with some watery juice. The flesh was fiberless, soft, and of melting consistency. It had nice flesh to seed ratio with plenty of edible flesh and a monoembryonic seed. The taste was sweet, with a slight tangy-ness and hints of orange juice with a spicy funky finish which I cannot compare nor explain exactly what it was. I thought this had a complex flavor. Next time i get my hands on a few of these i plan to eat them at different stages of ripeness to see how or if the flavor profile changes much, think that would be interesting.

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JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #104 on: July 31, 2013, 10:17:09 PM »
Here is a JD Ensey purchased from ensey's:








This mango had kind of an interesting shape with its double-beak at the bottom. It was a bright red that faded into orange with a small amount of green and was absent of any sweet smell on the outside. It weighed 438g and was 4.5in long. When I cut open the mango it revealed an orange flesh that was almost absent of juice. The flesh was firm, fiberless, with little juice. There was good flesh to seed ratio with a monoembryonic seed. The taste was mildly sweet with a plain mango flavor. I don't have much to say about this mango, thought it was pretty boring and not sweet.

-JoeP450


ScottR

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #105 on: July 31, 2013, 10:57:27 PM »
Very, very nice review of many mango varieties, thanks for taking time to post pic's and great comets on all the different varieties. :)

LEOOEL

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #106 on: July 31, 2013, 11:29:50 PM »
Edward mango is the standard to beat, in my opinion. It has a classic mango taste, medium sized fruit, fiberless and thin seed. The only thing wrong with the Edward is the tree. It has low production, although it's a consistent bearer. If someone came up with a mango cultivar that has the quality specifications of the Edward, but also be a consistent, productive tree, well, that would be the Holy-Grail, as far as mangoes are concerned.

Thank you for your, very good, mango reviews, I really appreciate them.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2013, 10:08:38 PM by LEOOEL »
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JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #107 on: August 01, 2013, 11:01:00 PM »
Here is a Fairchild mango I purchased from truly tropical:












This mango was a very small mango weighing only 220g and being just barely 3.5in long. It's coloration was a yellowing green and felt soft and ready to eat. There was not much smell on the outside of the mango. When I cut the mango open it revealed an orange flesh, a nice contrast to the greenish skin with some thin juice adhering to the flesh. The flesh was fiberless, somewhere in between creamy/watery. There was a small amount of edible flesh relative to a thick seed. In the one picture you get a good idea just how small this mango is relative to the spoon and can see that there is a wide seed kind of like a Neelam. The seed was a b**** to open (more on that soon) and is monoembryonic. The taste was very delicious, sweet with honeydew nuance and also I did not taste any resinous aftertaste or tart. I thought this faichild reminded me very much of the cat hoa loc.

The steps I take to de-husk a mango seed go like this: eat as much flesh as possible off the seed, then with a brillow pad buff off any more slippery flesh in the kitchen sink under running water. Next I take kitchen shears and cut along the thin edge of the seed and then simply the husk opens with a hinge on the opposite edge. Next I wrap the embryo in a dry paper towel, moisten it under running water and then place it in a semi closed zip-lock bag for 1.5 weeks. By this time the embryo will have sprouted and then I plant it. This method is fool-proof and works really well for me. The Fairchild seed above was very thick and lacked a thin edge easily cut with kitchen shears. I had to get out the old dremmel this seed was so tough lol!

JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #108 on: August 01, 2013, 11:31:45 PM »
Here is a Zill mango I purchased from truly tropical:








This mango had a very bright smell to the outside skin, it was of citrus and strawberries, smelt very interesting I could not wait to try this. This mango was mostly red with some yellowing green on the beak and on the other side. It felt soft and ready to eat. When I cut the mango open it revealed a bright orange flesh with some thin watery juice. The flesh was almost completely fiberless, juicy, with a few long strings the closer you ate towards the outer skin or the deeper you dug with your spoon. This mango had some notably thicker skin. It had plenty of flesh to eat relative to the monoembryonic seed. The taste was good, sweet, mainly mango flavor base with few peachy pineapple notes.

-JoeP450

Tropicdude

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #109 on: August 03, 2013, 01:45:54 AM »
I have been in the Orlando area for the last 10 days, and had to do a quick trip to Miami and back, at the last minute i decided to make a detour and visit Merrit Island. I stopped by Ensey's place but gate was closed, and no one answered when i rang the bell, anyway i saw a few "mangoes for sale" signs along the road, decided to stop at one.

I picked up about 7 lbs of mangoes.

I was disappointing with the purchased, almost all the mangoes were watery with little flavor, Haden's I took a couple of bites and tossed them in the trash.  Baily's marvel had a hint of nice flavor but were just watered down, only mango that was enjoyable, was a single Zill, which tasted like a mango peach fusion to me.

I also stopped by my mothers home in Hollywood, our Valencia Pride tree is still loaded with fruit that are just starting to ripen. I picked a couple dozen and brought a few back with me to Orlando.

The one VP that has ripened that I ate, was delicious, it had a very noticeable coconut flavor to it.

One thing I noticed about VP. is that the tree had fruit starting to ripe at all different sizes, some fruit were very big, while others were pretty small.  the smaller fruit that ripened were not as good as the full grown well developed fruit. 

too bad I wont be around to enjoy the rest of the harvest from that tree.

 
William
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fruitnut

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #110 on: August 03, 2013, 02:51:42 AM »
Here is a mango I bought from Excalibur last week called xaoi cat hoa loc:








This was a pretty good size mango at 5.5 inches long and weighing in at 578g. The top shoulders of this mango had some slight splits which turned dark brown. When I cut the top off I was surprised by how strong the smell was, I could clearly smell it's sweetness from 3 ft away on the counter top with just the top removed. The flesh was a bright orange color, completely fiberless and smooth with some juice. The seed was pretty large but so was the mango with plenty of edible flesh. The taste was delicious and had hints of honey dew melon with a slight orange flavor and almost no tart. The smell  was very  aromatic. I enjoyed just smelling this mango let alone eating it lol. Random fact xaoi is the Vietnamese word for mango. Overall awesome mango.

-Joep450

When I was in Vietnam, one of my wife's relative brought us some of this mango.  From the look of it, it looked sour and the skin color was green and it  did not look so nice.  My wife cut one and had me tried a piece.  WOW!!! That was the sweetest mango I have ever eaten.  In fact, all of the mango were sweet and not just that particular one.  I have a very sweet tooth, but trust me, it is really sweet!

johnb51

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #111 on: August 03, 2013, 08:38:03 AM »
I picked a green Neelam about a week ago because it was touching the ground.  (Mine have the hook on the end.)  It took 3 or 4 days to soften and loose the green color.  Although the flavor and sugar were not fully developed, it still had a spicy but pleasant flavor.  Can't wait til the others ripen fully! ;D
John

JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #112 on: August 03, 2013, 09:57:08 AM »
Tropic dude: I enjoyed the zill thought it tasted much like a Haden with more fruity skin peel aroma and taste. When I read more about it later turns out it is a seedling selection of Haden! It is much better than Haden with significantly less fiber.

-JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #113 on: August 03, 2013, 10:51:26 AM »
Tropic dude: I enjoyed the zill thought it tasted much like a Haden with more fruity skin peel aroma and taste. When I read more about it later turns out it is a seedling selection of Haden! It is much better than Haden with significantly less fiber.

-JoeP450

So it's basically an improved version of Haden.  8) Great mango reviews!  :)
Alexi

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #114 on: August 03, 2013, 12:12:27 PM »
Tropic dude: I enjoyed the zill thought it tasted much like a Haden with more fruity skin peel aroma and taste. When I read more about it later turns out it is a seedling selection of Haden! It is much better than Haden with significantly less fiber.

-JoeP450

I do not want to sound like the varieties I mentioned were bad in any way, but that they must have gotten way too much rain or irrigation. for example even the Edward, although ripe, was watered down, previous Edwards I have had from S. Fla and the DR. were wonderful. 

I did not get these fruit from Ensey but from a house less than a mile north of his property.

So moral of this story is never judge a variety by 1 sample, if I had never tasted an Edward before, and judged that fruit by this sample, I would say it was flavorless , but from previous experience I know better.

Haden normally is a decent mango.  and is the "Father" of many many other varieties from Fla.

funny, while I was at that vendors house, he gave me a free turpentine to try, although it had fiber, it wasn't that bad taste wise which surprised me.
William
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JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #115 on: August 03, 2013, 02:34:09 PM »
Here is a Kent mango I purchased from Ensy's:









This mango had a red color that faded into an orange then to yellow with some small green patches and dotted with white dots. From the Kent's I have seen on my customers tree and on the trees at ensy's the mango pictured above is on the smaller size of near average being 4.5 in long and weighing in at 560g. This mango was a marathon to eat, the one picture above shows the weight of the skin and seed (non-edible parts) after eating which translates into a near 1lb of mango flesh, definitely filling. When I cut open the mango it produced a deep orange flesh with a small amount of watery juice. The seed was monoembryonic and large but there was plenty of fiberless flesh to eat. The flesh had a soft juicy feel to it and as I dug deep with my spoon close to the skin there was a very small amount of stringy fiber. The taste was of syrupy sweet mango flavor, no hints of spicyness, fruit notes, or indian funk but a large amount of fiberless syrupy sweet orange flesh. I really like looking at the kent mango tree loaded with mangos, almost an alien sight, they color up nicely and are large hanging spheres. Also the kent is a late season cultivar, a great option for those wanting to extend their season.


-JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #116 on: August 03, 2013, 07:05:39 PM »
Here is a Hindi Besennara from the Fruit and Spice Park:






I attended mango madness this year and out of all of the mangos I was able to try I thought this was the most memorable in taste and one of the top 5 I have had this year. I was able to bring a a Hindi Besennara "HB" home to eat as well and took some pictures but this was before I had started this thread and bought the weight scale and was actively measuring metrics so this post will lack that info. The shape of this mango resembled a giant jellybean and was a green starting to yellow with some reddish pink blush and felt ripe. When I cut the mango open it revealed a bright orange flesh with some watery juice. The flesh had a thick creamy texture with some slight stringy fiber. The taste was very interesting, it was sweet with a strong funky earth type aftertaste, very complex flavor and uniquely delicious in its own right. The polyembryonic seed was large relative to the flesh and the ratio was around 50-50. This is a selection from Egypt and anyone looking for more info on Egyptian cultivars can find it at this link http://www.manarasoft.com/pdf/P42.pdf

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #117 on: August 03, 2013, 09:08:16 PM »

can find it at this link http://www.manarasoft.com/pdf/P42.pdf

-JoeP450

Good find.  Is anyone familiar with the Tiamour in the link?  Also sounds good and is poly too.

JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #118 on: August 04, 2013, 09:32:48 PM »
Here is a Glenn mango I purchased from truly tropical:









From the outside the mango was yellow with some green splotches and felt ripe. The skin had a light smell of coconut. It was 5in long and weighed 471g. When I cut the mango open it produced a bright yellow-light orange flesh with some juice adhering to it. The flesh was fiberless and had a smooth texture in between juicy and creamy. There was a good amount of flesh to eat and the seed was monoembryonic. The taste was mildly sweet with a tropical taste with nuances of peach and coconut, no tangy-ness. A good tasting mango but would have appreciated it more if it was sweeter.

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #119 on: August 07, 2013, 12:08:59 AM »
Here is the royal purple mango from ensey's:









As you can tell from the picture the mango is not purple at all, this is because when it is on the tree it is deep purple (the shade of grimmace the mcdonalds character) and then after it is picked and starts to ripen and soften it becomes a crimson red. This mango is a small slightly ovate mango being about 3.75in long and weighing 271g. There was a slight bitter mango smell to the outside peel and the color was crimson red with a browning green patch and felt ripe. When I cut open the mango it revealed a bright yellow flesh that was hardly juicy. The flesh was fibrous and tough and not easily spooned out. The monoembryonic seed was large relative to the size of the mango. I have heard quite a bit about the taste of this mango being reminiscent of a Concord grape and I honestly have to disagree based on the four specimens I sampled. I sampled at slightly differing stages of ripeness even with "black seedless grapes" as a reference point (though they are not concord). The taste was complex, it was sweet with notes of spices like clove and bitterness which may appeal to some. Out of the four mangos I sampled I didn't finish a whole mango but ate 1/4 just evaluate and profile.


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LEOOEL

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #120 on: August 07, 2013, 12:30:19 AM »
Here is a Glenn mango I purchased from truly tropical:

From the outside the mango was yellow with some green splotches and felt ripe. The skin had a light smell of coconut. It was 5in long and weighed 471g. When I cut the mango open it produced a bright yellow-light orange flesh with some juice adhering to it. The flesh was fiberless and had a smooth texture in between juicy and creamy. There was a good amount of flesh to eat and the seed was monoembryonic. The taste was mildly sweet with a tropical taste with nuances of peach and coconut, no tangy-ness. A good tasting mango but would have appreciated it more if it was sweeter.

-JoeP450

I have the Glenn mango. For me it's a must have mango. It's one of those classic, quality mangoes that I just can't get enough of.
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JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #121 on: August 07, 2013, 12:38:37 AM »
Here is the "Tess" mango from truly tropical:









Some friends just recently attended a fruit picking tour at truly tropical and brought me back this tree ripened "Tess" mango. From what I am told this is a really rare mango and is a cross between Carrie and Turpentine. Being the Carrie fan I am I was very excited to try this. This mango was a flat yellow with tiny blueish-green freckles near the top shoulders, pretty neat looking. It was 4.5in long and weighed 344g. The outside of this mango had a more pronounced smell of Carrie-like resin, and was soft and ready to eat. When I cut open the mango it produced a yellow orange flesh with a good amount of thin juice leaking out onto the plate. The undetermined seed type was large but still in good proportion to edible flesh. When I later opened the husk, I found the seed in the shape of a square and cant make heads or tails whether this is a poly or mono seed. I will plant this and update what happens later. The flesh was quite fibrous with sporadic long soft strings intermixed with in the flesh and then a large concentration of bristly fibers around the seed husk. The flavor had similarities to Carey but with more tangy-ness and skewed toward the resin side.

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #122 on: August 07, 2013, 01:34:54 AM »
Here is a mango from ensey's called cannonball:











This mango is aptly named according to its semi-rounded shape and large size much like a cannonball. I had low hopes digging into this mango, from first glance I was expecting maybe some yellow fleshed Franken-haden-like fibrous thing. But that estimate was way off! This mango was wide measuring 4in wide and weighing 570g. The outside coloration was orange fading into bright red with some black patches, the peel was slightly waxy absent of any strong smell and felt kind of soft with thick skin. When I cut this mango open to my surprise there was a deep orange flesh. The seed which is monoembryonic was short and thick and there was a very large amount of flesh to eat. Since I halved the mango, it literally felt like I was holding a bowl in the palm of my hand due to the roundness of the mango and how wide it is. There was so much edible thick flesh in this one half "bowl" that it was perfect to eat with a spoon. In the one picture above I took my spoon and in a conical motion scooped out flesh to show a) the ease of doing so because this is completely fiberless and b) to show just how deep one could go with a spoon and get an idea how much flesh there was. The flesh was completely fiberless and of a similar texture to florigon. The taste was strong and unusually resembling Madame Francis in syrupy sweetness and funky-musky aftertaste. Personally I really enjoy the taste of Madame Francis mangos but am deterred by the fiber, this cannonball mango has the best combination of florigon like flesh with Madame Francis like taste. Definitely a must try mango in my opinion.

-JoeP450

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #123 on: August 07, 2013, 10:48:53 AM »
Here is a tree ripened Duncan mango purchased from truly tropical:









This mango was a full canary yellow with some light browning in color and ripe. The skin was dry almost powdery and smelled very slightly of apricot. It weighed 397g and was 4.75in long. Before halving the mango I cut the top cap off near the stem and scrapped the small amount of flesh off with my top incisors to sample. This produced a very bitter taste similar to ground black pepper which confirms reports from other members on this forum that the Duncan mango does have a bitter tasting peel. Next, I halved the mango which produced a bright yellow-orange flesh loaded with watery juice. The monoembryonic seed was reasonable in proportion to edible flesh providing just enough to satisfy my craving. The flesh was fiberless and quite unique in that it had a creamy thickness though at the same time being very juicy, buttery. The taste was upper end of mild with fresh juicy sugar cane flavor, not tangy, falling somewhere in between Glenn and Edward in aftertaste. I find this mango really interesting in that the smell of the peel does not correspond to the bitter taste of the peel which does not correspond to the taste of the flesh! Funny. I actually preferred this Duncan over the Edwards I have had, but then again I probably haven't had the "perfect Edward" which so many rave about.

-Joep450
« Last Edit: August 07, 2013, 10:51:23 AM by JoeP450 »

BrettBorders

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Re: Mango Reviews
« Reply #124 on: August 07, 2013, 11:27:12 AM »
the "perfect Edward" which so many rave about.

I have eaten lots of Edwards this summer and only caught 2 at this 'perfect window of ripeness' moment which seems to only span hours, not days. When you taste it - you will know. An incredibly pure sweetness and delicacy in flavor that is so pleasing to the taste buds it is almost 'too good to be true.'