On Saturday, we had the privilege of trying out two of the mangos from the Painted Mango Collection, the Tequila Sunrise and the Gold Coast.
Kensington Pride on left (for reference), Ataulfo in middle (for reference), Gold Coast on right. Not pictured Tequila Sunsrise (we forgot to take a picture, but it did look the one on the socalplantbreeders website).
A Kensington Pride mango was used for comparison against the Gold Coast and Tequila Sunrise. Tim Thompson concurred with the brix readings I took yesterday and were similar to ones he had taken previously.
Kensington Pride: for comparison purposes
It had a nice floral scent on the outside.
Fruit was creamy and somewhat sweet, but a little watered down. Brix score was 15.
It was virtually fiberless though. I think we can find some store bought summertime mangos that were better than this Kensington Pride. It was a large tree, but only had 15 mangos on it.
Gold Coast:
Looked like a Glenn mango from the outside. Had a nice fruity outside aroma and was fairly large in size. The mango was soft near the skin. Brix score was 20. Flavor was VP-like: citrusy, slightly tart, and virtually fiberless. By citrusy, I thought it had a “lemony” taste. Another person in the group thought “orangey”....but it was definitely nothing like the LZ’s we had this summer.
Tequila Sunrise:
Beautiful red, orange, and yellow on the outside. This fruit dropped from the tree and had a little bruising damage. It had a simple outside aroma and was very small in size. It was sweet, but lacked deep mango flavor...so no hint of citrusy mango flavor. I would say Glenn-like in flavor.
Brix reading was 19.5. Some folks said they detected a little fiber, but it was hard to tell being slightly overripe.
In a nutshell, the mangos we tasted were good in flavor, but nothing like the new Zill’s varieties Lemon Zest and Coconut Cream that we had this year. I’d imagine the Gold Coast and Tequila Sunrise could be a little better under different soil conditions and with a consistent fertilizer program. If I recall correctly, Tim Thompson doesn’t fertilize his trees that are on his property. He tailored his varieties for the commercial market for California under cooler winter climates. These are the properties he looked for:
1) Can survive cold weather down to 27 degF without frost protection with minimal damage
2) Resistant to powdery mildew. This characteristic seems to have resulted in a resistance to anthracnose also
3) Requires little to no maintenance…other than water
4) Tastes good
5) For the commercial market, a red exterior color.
The Painted Mango Collection mangos are being promoted as a late fall crop to farmers, when no other good mangos are in the market and thus can command a premium price in CA.
Also, mangos only require 60 percent of the water required as compared to CA avocados. So the mangos are targeting avocado replacement in CA with the ongoing drought.
