Best Mango/s 2023

[fliptop]

We've had Pickering, Guava, Lemon Meringue, Dwarf Hawaiian, a Haden seedling, and Sugarloaf thus far.

Some Pickerings were bland, but others were at the top of their game with creamy texture and coconut undertones.

Lemon Meringues were amazing.

Guavas were good, but last year they were amazing.

Dwarf Hawaiian had a little Carrie undertone and were otherwise not memorable.

The Haden seedling was bland.

Sugarloaf was picked a little later than ideal, but we're really impressed with the pineapple and pina colada flavor.

Sugarloaf wins 2023 for us.



Second place goes to Lemon Meringue.

[Timbogrow]

My friend gave me a huge bag from his farm and the Tara lay really had wonderful flavor. The Kathy also was great. Im not sure about the diseaae resistance, precocity, or growth of the actual tree though. But as far as flavor, my wife and kids all agreed that it tasted the best out of all.

[Pan Dulce]

So far this year the top tier is:

Dupuis
Brite Bite
Seacrest
Cac
Phoenix

There is a large group of second and third tier mangoes.

The Dupuis I got from Verna Zill last week takes top honors. Fortunately, she surprised me, and pulled out a handful of Brite Bites. Those two are pretty unique, I can’t place those within any of the standard flavor classes.

The Cac I bought from Alex and Becky @ TAF were phenomenal.

 

[CarloGolfer]

Maha Chanok has been the best, most consistent, for mr so far. But it's early yet.

[gozp]

Besides ppk, pina colada, fruit cocktail is damn good.

[fliptop]

Carlogolfer, I agree, inspite of my own yard's season being over,  it's early yet. Still, there was something about Sugarloaf that let us know immediately it won the season (like how Pineapple Pleasure did a couple years ago). It's such a great mango, and was more forgiving than I expected, having picked them a little later than ideal. And in addition to their awesome flavor, it's great they have a longer range of great eating quality than other mangos, and that the time range includes different flavor profiles. My favorite point was the pina colada blend of pineapple and coconut, leaning more towards the pineapple.

Timbogrow, how lucky to have access to those mangos! I've yet to try Taralay, but Kathy is my favorite Indochinese-type mango.

Dupuis was one of my girlfriend's favorites, Pan Dulce.

I've yet to have a Fruit Cocktail, gozp . . .

[fruitnoob]

I keep a personal mango taste sheet, and so far, Maha Chanok, Sia Tong, and Kiew Yai are my top 3 for 2023. The mango season is still young and I hope to try more mangoes.


 

[Surfmatt]

I'll add my best for 2023 since I have had an incredible mango season thus far.

10 - Orange Sherbet
9 - Guava
8 - St Maui
7 - Dwarf Hawaiian
6 - Sunburst
5 - PPK
4 - King Lion
3 - Ceci Love
2 - Sweet Tart
1 - Excalibur

[Aaron]

So far this year the top tier is:

Dupuis
Brite Bite
Seacrest
Cac
Phoenix

There is a large group of second and third tier mangoes.

The Dupuis I got from Verna Zill last week takes top honors. Fortunately, she surprised me, and pulled out a handful of Brite Bites. Those two are pretty unique, I can’t place those within any of the standard flavor classes.

The Cac I bought from Alex and Becky @ TAF were phenomenal.

Brite bites a good mango. I was really surprised by it.

[Oolie]

I just had a mini mango tasting.
Unknown mango (suspected orange essence): Picked way under-ripe. It was still good, no fiber and sweet towards the skin with a nice orange creamsicle flavor.

Store bought Manila: Best Manila I've had in years, it wasn't bad at all.

Pickering: Could have used another day on the shelf, but better than past examples.

Indian imported Kesar from the fridge: Best Kesar I've ever had, really phenomenal fruit despite the fibers towards the skin.

Kesar wins.

I will keep doing these until I run out of fruit or Future takes over.

[Jaboticaba45]

Thanks to everyone letting me try and get mangos, I got a large selection from many growers and farms this year. Haven’t gotten to eat many at all, but will update my rankings here later. But so far, the best was lemon merengue. 😆

[mcoambassador]

I attended a tasting and tried nine varieties this past week. Lemon zest got top marks from two of us, a third preferred a dark horse variety: Karen Michelle (maybe tied with fruit punch). Some brief notes and ratings below:

Coconut cream - a bit overripe, very sweet, tasted like the Hawaiian punch red drink, incredible edible skin (one of my sons happily ate all the skin and loved it) , classic mango, no fiber, no acidity, 7.5/10

Lemon zest - super sweet, tasting like peach o’s candy (a personal favorite), no fiber, almost no acidity; two of use called it our  favorite 9/10

Ugly Betty - classic mango, sickly sweet, no acid, some fiber, sulfur, one of us wouldn’t finish eating it 6.5/10

Karen Michelle - very juicy, sweet classic mango, medium acidity, somewhat fibrous which detracted, great flavor, some resin flavor - one of us claimed it as his  favorite, tied with fruit punch; 8.5/10

Fruit punch - very fruity, fruit punch, grapes, watermelon, blueberry, juicy, medium-low acid, fibrous, tied with Karen Michelle one member’s favorite 8/10

Harvest moon - juicy, huge, classic mango, surprisingly delicious (I thought it would be bland at such a huge cantaloupe size but it was flavorful) with medium fiber, one tasted didn’t like tan off  flavor and wouldn’t finish his, a bit of sulfur and turpentine flavor, but tasted kinda like a very large store bought mango 7/10

Pineapple pleasure - sour, watery, juicy, tastes like pineapple but almost more like canned pineapple; maybe waterlogged or picked too early or something? 6/10

Cotton candy - unripe, no rating, but had a nice mild flavor and bright acidity so has potential? n/a

Super Alphonso - underripe again, tart, still quite juicy, resinous, sulfurous again, and the same taster who wouldn’t finish the harvest moon  wouldn’t finish this one either  6.5/10

[Honest Abe]

Best I’ve had this season,

In order:

-My homegrown sugarloaf (totally biased)

-Dot

-Gary

-Mallika

-ST Maui

-Zill 40-17

-sunrise

-my homegrown baileys Marvel

-okrung


Edwards, Carrie and Duncans were all great too this season.

Most of these from Tropical acres farms in Palm Beach, Fl. Thank you Alex Salazar for your hard earned labor of love mango farm that gives us access to these amazing mangos.

[FruitFool]

This year so far I haven’t tasted Florida mangos yet.

Store bought Kesar mangos have been great this year.

A side question for forum, I love Bombay mango flavor
from past experience. Any Florida mangoes taste similar
to Bombay or “super” Bombay?

Fruitfool

[CarloGolfer]

I keep a personal mango taste sheet, and so far, Maha Chanok, Sia Tong, and Kiew Yai are my top 3 for 2023. The mango season is still young and I hope to try more mangoes.


 

A mango taste sheet!? I love it!

I had to show my wife because she thinks I'm crazy and obsessive for constantly smelling the mangos on the counter. They have to be eaten at the perfect time. It's more than important!

[Surfmatt]

I've had a bunch of Wango varieties as well. Did anyone eat any this season? Some were ok but some were very complex. Pretty exciting that there are hybrids coming into the market now.

[mikesid]

 Val-Carrie
 40-26
 Panchadara Kalassa
 Creme Brulee
 Dot
 Fruit Punch
 

[zands]

FlipT said
Some Pickerings were bland, but others were at the top of their game with creamy texture and coconut undertones.

Same variability here on my tree. I have a large ugly (black spotting) Pickering in my refrigerator. One of my last. Mangoes should be eaten at room temperature. But chilling makes some better. Sorry to admit.

Carrie is always my favorite (this year and any year) and the fan favorites too. Fans meaning buyers and ones given away. Carrie is intoxicating to many. Green Carrie is different than (later) yellow Carrie. Later means more sweet and less acidic. But acidic+sweet is what makes "complex" mangoes.

Then came Pina Colada this year. The piney taste is in Carrie territory.
Then Sweet Tart this year. ST tree gave lots in 2021_____ Nothing in 2022._______ Then lots in 2023

zzz

[fliptop]

zands, what are your thoughts on Fairchild? I saw you had some fruit for sale recently (wished I was close enough to get some). I recently got a small 3gal because I'm reading David Fairchild's autobiography.

[Oolie]

I saved some bits of the mangoes from last time for comparison against new mangoes.
Some improved from desiccating in the fridge, others got worse.
Underripe Suspected OE, took on a jalapeno flavor, Kesar got really intense on the desiccated portions like a surinam cherry type resin, but the inside part (closer to the peel) was still excellent.
The store bought Manila started to take on a thicker texture, and started to remind me of marshmallows (big improvement).
Pickering didn't change too much, still good, but without acidity or special aroma, it was like a fragrant classic type flavor with slight pine towards the skin, nothing special.

I am finding that I agree very much with Rob the snob's opinion that mangoes are better the riper they are. All the mangoes I am getting from Florida this year are picked at the stage I imagine most people would prefer, so that there is some acid to balance out a *mostly developed flavor. Where as my preference is to enjoy them on the riper side where the unique qualities of the fruit show themselves.

This year I shared some fruit with friends who like mangoes, but have little experience with non-commercial varieties, and Guava had been getting rave reviews, so I enjoyed one in this tasting.

I had one from the same source last year, but that one was picked riper, and did actually taste like a guava. This one had very dense flesh, creamy starchiness (something I love and you can get in a superior Kent), enough acid to balance out the superb peachy sweetness, and a resin flavor towards the skin which is one of the resin qualities you can pick up on in Kesar, but much toned down. The skin was so thin you could read a newspaper through it, and there was a quality to the flesh of this fruit that I have never experienced before. A zing which gave the impression of an acidic quality, but actually was a mouthfeel. Kind of like how sansho pepper can numb the tongue, but not as long lasting, it stimulated receptors in a very addictive way, I'd love to experience other mangoes which can generate this sensation. A real revelation.

I also ate a Maha Chanok at the stage that board members have recommended. I grew this tree in San Diego, but lost it to gophers. The fruit that tree produced were consumed on the riper side when the tree was ready to drop the fruit, and I much prefer it at that stage. The fruit I consumed now had a milder peachier aroma instead of the durio aroma. It only had a mild parsnip taste toward the skin instead of the stronger more intense one it has when riper. It also had an astringency towards the skin I've heard others complain of in indochinese type fruit, something I never experienced in my home grown examples. Maybe this is an example of the multiple Mahas in circulation, but the fruit seemed like the same one, just picked less ripe.

Even with the revelatory sensation produced by the guava mango, the Kesar was still superior.

[FruitFool]

Nice write up, oolie.
Kesar is very good, there is reason it’s grown on commercial scale in India.
I dislike the seed to flesh ratio though. We need Jumbo kesar here.

Fruitfool

[zands]

zands, what are your thoughts on Fairchild? I saw you had some fruit for sale recently (wished I was close enough to get some). I recently got a small 3gal because I'm reading David Fairchild's autobiography.

Based on my Fairchild tree.
A smallish mango w some mid sized. It is green until it turns yellow. People will not be prone to stealing it. So good for perimeter plantings by a road, for example. You can keep it pruned to a bushy shape. It is not an upright grower.

It is not your classic blander Florida mango. It has some zing to it. Not super sweet like some of the new Zills.
8 out of 10 and a good choice by you

If I had to start all over again, I would plant a Fairchild too.  Zero anthracnose on my Fairchild tree.

It should be a good rootstock tree. Due to the larger seed. Meaning more feral and primitive. High seed to flesh ratio compared to other more "bred" mangos.

[fliptop]

Thanks, zands!