Mango check

Summer’s gifts are sharp, bright and easy: fresh-mown grass, gardens erupting into a dazzling panoply of flowers, sugarcane juice on the roadside, tall pitchers of jaggery-fied lemonade, and the indisputable lure of the season’s star fruit, mango. While aficionados have a whole calendar marked out for the perfect week or fortnight to relish their favourite mango variety, there’s a significant shift in how mangoes have been flowering and ripening, at all odd times, starting as early as November.

While the internet is abuzz with warnings about the harmful chemicals used to artificially produce and ripen mangoes, it can be confusing and difficult to process. Having a handy and short checklist is crucial as we navigate the season of the king of fruits, by way of visits to our local mandis, mango melas and online order requests. It’s also a great way to engage our children in matters of farm-to-table sustainability practices.

Some basic facts on the artificial ripening process:
• Calcium carbide, also known as masala, is a known carcinogen and is often used in welding.
• It is cheap (as low as Rs 30/ 100 grams for bulk purchases) and easily available in local markets, offline and online. Yes, Amazon sells it too.
• While the bucket test is influencer-popularised, it’s crucial to perform a full check: a white, dusty film on the skin of the fruit, a pungent gas-like smell, and brown-black spots on an evenly orange surface.
• It contains traces of arsenic and phosphorus hydride, which could lead to vomiting, diarrhoea, weakness, skin ulcers, permanent eye damage, and shortness of breath.
• It can also affect the neurological system, causing headaches, dizziness, sleepiness, confusion, memory loss, etc.

Here are some traditional tips and tricks for dealing with store-bought mangoes:
• As soon as you get the mangoes home, dry them out in the sun for up to 30 minutes.
• Wash the mangoes with a good, gentle scrub on the skin and then soak them in a tub of water for at least half an hour before you consume them.
• De-skin the mangoes before you cut them. If firm, consider burning the mango skin before you eat.
• If squishy, squeeze out the juice/ pulp and use in a local recipe like seekarane.
• Put the seeds in a paper bag and give them to your local nursery or farm. If you have a backyard garden, plant a few!
• If you have excess mangoes, try to juice the pulp and freeze it for use throughout the year, rather than buying unseasonal mangoes in the supermarkets.
• Grate raw mangoes and freeze them in zip-loc sheets to use in chutneys and mixed rice post-season.
• Pickling is a great way to preserve mangoes, but you could also sun-dry slices of raw and ripe mangoes ­— put salt on raw mangoes before sun-drying, and preserve these for souring your gravies. In the case of ripe mangoes, mix them with roasted seeds, nuts and other dry fruits like raisins, for a clean trail mix/ road snack.
• Don’t consume mango juice beyond its shelf life, even if you made the aam panna or aam ras yourself. During the season, try to eat the fruit rather than juice it, but if you have to, use it up within a week and make a fresh batch again.

Sweet ‘n Sour Mango Salsa
(Serves 2)
 1 totapuri raw mango
 1 ripe mango (any variety)
 1 onion
 1 green chilli
 1 tomato
 Salt and jaggery powder according to preference
 A dash of red chilli powder
 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander
Method
1. Chop one-half of the green and ripe mangoes into small cubes.
2. Puree the rest to a lumpy pulp.
3. Finely mince onion, green chillies.
4. Chop up the tomatoes.
5. Mix everything in a bowl with salt, jaggery powder, and a dash of red chilli powder.
6. Top with chopped coriander, and serve with nachos or khakra.

Mango Chokkha
(Serves 2)
 1 totapuri raw
mango
 1 onion
 1 green chilli
 2 cloves of garlic
 1-2 green
tomatoes
Method
1. Burn the skin of a Totapuri mango on a medium-high flame, set aside.
2. Mince onion, green chillies, garlic and green tomato.
3. Once cool enough to handle, scoop or chop up the mango flesh into the bowl with the other ingredients.
4. Add salt, chaat masala, and jaggery powder, mix well.
5. Top with chopped coriander, serve with rotis, dosas, parathas or nachos.

Mango Rasam
(Serves 2)
 1 medium raw mango, washed and de-skinned
 1 tomato, diced (optional)
 1 cup water
 ¼ teaspoon turmeric
 Salt and jaggery powder according to preference
 ½ teaspoon dried mint powder
 1-1½ teaspoons rasam powder
For the seasoning
 ½ tablespoon ghee
 ½ teaspoon each mustard
and jeera
 A dash of asafoetida/ hing
 1 sprig of curry leaves
 2 dried red chillies, halved
 1 tablespoon each of chopped coriander and mint.
Method
1. Boil the mango and tomato in a pressure cooker for about 8 minutes/ 4 whistles, let cool.
2. Once cooled, puree the mango and tomato, and put the paste in a pot with all the other ingredients.
3. Let the rasam boil for a good 12-15 minutes.
4. Prepare the seasoning with ghee heated in a small pan, add mustard and once it splutters, add jeera, hing, curry leaves, chillies.
5. Top the rasam with the seasoning.
6. Add chopped herbs, stir well and serve hot.

(Ranjini is a communications professor, author, and podcaster, straddling many other worlds, in Bengaluru. She’s passionate about urban farming and sustainable living, and can mostly be found cooking and baking in her little kitchen, where, surrounded by heirloom coffee kettles and mismatched tea cups, she finds her chi.)