2025 Mango season

[DocTropical]

Gorgeous Mahas, calusa. Wow.

For Mahas, don’t confuse the red color with ripening- that’s just color change from the sun. IMO a maha is tree ripened when there is little to no green left / the green has been replaced with yellow.

[DocTropical]

First tree ripened Carrie from my small tree. Found on the ground, dull yellow color, smells incredible. Likely will eat it tonight or tomorrow. Have never had a proper Carrie before, hope this is the one. 😋

[pineflatwoods]

Mahas look and tasted great this year, i'll know now in the future- leave until entire fruit is yellow. A person up the road must have had 200+ mahas on a tall, lanky tree. I'd like a couple dozen on my tree next year.

[DocTropical]

It’s been a banner year for Maha Chanoks. Still looking forward to my first one ripening in central FL.

[MountDoraOllie]

Gorgeous Mahas, calusa. Wow.

For Mahas, don’t confuse the red color with ripening- that’s just color change from the sun. IMO a maha is tree ripened when there is little to no green left / the green has been replaced with yellow.

Thanks for the advice on Mahachanok! I'll wait for them to turn completely yellow.

Let me know what you think of Carrie. I've eaten hundreds over the years from my tree. I get so many that I usually wait until they drop, which is a bad idea, because they start breaking down internally from the injury as they are completely fiberless. They're very good chilled and eaten with a spoon like ice cream (can't do that with many mangoes). Customers were asking for them by name at Tropical Acres and Truly Tropical, but both were sold out. Some people don't care for the unique flavor, but the great majority do. Hopefully you're one of the latter.

As an experiment, I just harvested two that were 100% green and hard as a rock. Will report back on whether they ripen successfully indoors.

[MountDoraOllie]

I have several Mahas hanging on the tree. Can you tell me exactly what you did in terms of picking them and letting them ripen? Did you pick them while still firm and greenish? Did you let them ripen for a long time indoors? "Tropical fruit punch flavors," as you describe it, is what I'm looking for. I hear they can be very delicious, but I always seem to get Mahas when they're just average.

Here are a couple of my Mahas. The one on the right can be picked now and finished ripening on the counter for a couple more days. I cut them when I can feel them give slightly when I gently squeeze them, and they don't feel as hard as before. The flavor is superb.



These are ready to eat now:

Thanks for that guidance. I suspect that the Mahas I have had were harvested prematurely. And I can understand why: they get that beautiful red blush while they're still very green and underripe. It's a challenge for me not to go out there and pick them right now!

[EddieF]

My Maha's had some give when squeezed on tree, never hard.  They also got picked up off ground ripe ater falling.
Few i picked last fell off as i barely grabbed them to lift test.  Edible in a day.  Ones on ground softer, ate after washing them off lol.  They came in all different sizes from 7" or so to 2".  Every one was delish.  Tree ripen all you can.

[johnb51]

Mahachanok gets my vote for most beautiful mango.

[qcguy4198]

I’m having a very good ‘25 season. I’m not real sure when to pick the fruit however. I generally have to go over the tree daily, sometimes 2x each day, to take fruit that is still green, but drops into my hand with very little effort. Often… just a touch. Those come into the house and allowed to ripen in brown paper bags. Critters get anything on the ground and I occasionally see green fruit, still on the tree… partially eaten..
All that said, I don’t know what variety I have..!
Can someone identify this variety:
Thank you.

[pineflatwoods]

The Shape of the fruit and them growing in clusters remind me of Choc-Anon aka Miracle mango

[Coconut Cream]

After going to the tasting at Xain's, and trying to focus on flavor evaluation with all the mangoes I tried there and elsewhere, I realize how much ripeness and preparation affect the flavor perception. It's almost like eating a totally different fruit. The stage you pick it from the tree, the amount of ripening time you give, the way you cut it, the texture of the fruit, skin or no skin, the part of the fruit, the size of the piece, temperature - every single factor can make or break a mango's flavor.

I have had a lot of Maha Chanok in the past and most of them exhibit a funky quality that I struggle with. But yesterday I had a perfectly ripened Maha with good texture, just a little bit firm, and it was candy sweet and intensely flavored in the most pleasant way. It was probably picked slightly underripe but for me that made it better.

I also got to try CeciLove, big thanks to johnb51 who hooked me up. Sweet Tart is the natural comparison, but I have never been overly impressed with Sweet Tart. For me, CeciLove added a lot of mango and background flavor missing in Sweet Cart. CeciLove has that Smarties candy quality up front, with mango, peach, and even a faint coconut flavor providing depth to the sweet and slightly sour interplay. Compared to Sweet Tart, CeciLove has better balance, more flavor, and more enjoyable sweetness.

Xain gave me a big old M-4 to take home, and the completely green fruit softened without ever changing color. I cut a bit off the end to test the ripeness and it was ready to eat. I found the taste very good verging on excellent, but it probably needed a couple more days on the tree. The mango was notably less sweet than the other varieties I've been eating recently. For me, that's not a problem, it just leaves more room for flavor to come through. I love the coconut forward flavor, on top of the nicely balanced citrus and mango tastes. The ripeness throughout the mango varied more than I like - larger fruit can suffer from this. I look forward to tasting more M-4. Properly ripened with the correct flavor intensity it should blow the bloody doors off. As a certified coco-nut, I've already got a tree in the ground.

[Greater Good]

@EddieF Maha Chanok is the correct way.

Update on my first producer,
The Pickering! Ta Da!!


 Short video update : https://youtube.com/shorts/ktVR1X1_lmo?si=0AWvQkVSvHbU150T

Pickering is a great mango!

[pineflatwoods]

Pickering
That golden yellow glow is unmistakable- came right off with just a little sap.





Always remember to check the inside of your trees

[Rain]

First tree ripened Carrie from my small tree. Found on the ground, dull yellow color, smells incredible. Likely will eat it tonight or tomorrow. Have never had a proper Carrie before, hope this is the one. 😋

How the Carrie? Did you eat it at the right time?

[kapps]

First time I’ve found a ripe PPK hiding on my tree.  It was bright and soft and I brought it in and immediately ate it. A small portion was ever-so-slightly overripe but didn’t really detract from the flavor:


To my taste buds, it’s good and a nice change of pace, but not great.  I am still topworking some of this tree to Orange Shebert but I don’t think I’ll completely get rid of this southeast Asian flavor group.

[DocTropical]

First tree ripened Carrie from my small tree. Found on the ground, dull yellow color, smells incredible. Likely will eat it tonight or tomorrow. Have never had a proper Carrie before, hope this is the one. 😋

How the Carrie? Did you eat it at the right time?

Ate it a couple hours after finding it on the ground. It was low hanging so no damage. Was slightly soft to the touch.

Flavor was outstanding, I’m so glad to report. Very sweet, very rich, very juicy. Could easily eat it with a spoon if desired. Had a hint of that Alphonso type flavor. Surprisingly, this Carrie had little to no resin/pine/medicinal flavor, which I actually love (for example in a kesar). I ate much of the thin skin for the first time, and found the skin mild tasting (also without resin) but not unpleasant.

Experienced Carrie eaters, is this common? How would you describe the flavor of Carrie?

[Coconut Cream]

Finally, mango season '25 has arrived for me, I shared my first Coconut Cream of the season. Coconut Cream was the first "modern" mango that I tried a few years ago and it changed everything for me. It might get surpassed someday through AI and genetic engineering but it will always be #1 in my heart. The taste is so tropical, the flavor reminds me of coconut and passion fruit. You get wonderful texture and robust flavor intensity in a good sized fruit. I feel transported every time I eat one and it's even better sharing with someone who never had it before.

I also had an M-4 today, so I can offer some (not completely fair) comparison based on a small sample size. Coconut Cream has more sweetness and more coconut flavor - like Coco Lopez mixed with passion fruit. M-4, while still delicious, did not have the same tropical background flavors or intensity. One day I'll be eating CC & M-4 side by side in my back yard off my trees and I can endlessly contemplate the differences in the shade of a dwarf Samoan coconut tree.

[Greater Good]

First tree ripened Carrie from my small tree. Found on the ground, dull yellow color, smells incredible. Likely will eat it tonight or tomorrow. Have never had a proper Carrie before, hope this is the one. 😋

How the Carrie? Did you eat it at the right time?

Ate it a couple hours after finding it on the ground. It was low hanging so no damage. Was slightly soft to the touch.

Flavor was outstanding, I’m so glad to report. Very sweet, very rich, very juicy. Could easily eat it with a spoon if desired. Had a hint of that Alphonso type flavor. Surprisingly, this Carrie had little to no resin/pine/medicinal flavor, which I actually love (for example in a kesar). I ate much of the thin skin for the first time, and found the skin mild tasting (also without resin) but not unpleasant.

Experienced Carrie eaters, is this common? How would you describe the flavor of Carrie?

Variety has been around 85 years and is still a favorite 😍 to so many.

[Woodinitbean_ice]

Yeah I'd say the resin and pine varies from fruit to fruit. On its best days it's really hard to beat a Carrie - rich, sweet, melting. That said, I had a Super Julie for the first time at Dr. Campbell's place and wow - superb. As its name suggests it has more Julie in its flavor than Carrie does but really similar to both.

[EddieF]

Happy to say i ate more Pickerings, M4's and they were great.
Had 1st Raw Honey of season today, and 2 more less ripe which were great too.
This mango thing knowing when to eat has serious learning curve!
Can't judge a variety till you've picked, eaten different levels.  Goes from amazing to gross
Raw honey cut & large pickering for show.

[MadFarm]

Dolphin mango made a big splash this year 4th or 5th year fruiting.

[bulldawg305]

Good size Venus

[DocTropical]

First sugarloaf in central Florida. Early. Came right off in my hand.

Anyone else picking in central FL?

[Woodinitbean_ice]

Please let us know how that Sugarloaf tastes, Doc. I have never tried one

[kapps]

The only Venus on my first time fruiting tree. It started sizing up quickly while it was small and then just stopped over a month ago. It came off without any sap bleeding from the stem. Can’t wait to give it a try once it softens up.