Prepping Mangoes

There are hundreds of mango species, but so far we usually see only three or four in our stores. The ones I've seen all get prepped the same way.

First thing to notice is that mangoes are lenticular, lentil-shaped. You want to approach the mango with the narrow profile facing you, the wide profile at right angles to you.

If you eat more than six mangoes a year, get yourself a mango cutter. OXO makes a grand one.

Begin, if you like, by peeling the mango with a vegetable peeler. I prefer to leave the peel on till a later stage in the prep.

   

With your sharp knife or your mango cutter, cut the cheeks of the mango off.

Now if you have left the skin on, score the mango flesh all the way down to the skin in a checkerboard pattern and then cut it away from the skin. Or if you have already skinned the mango, cut it into whatever size pieces you desire.

And what of the flesh that remains on the fibrous pit? Cook's treat. I'll never tell.

Instead of Prepping

Cecil Winters taught me to eat mangoes this way in 1960. It took me 25 years before I could get my hands on enough mangoes to try out his method, but I've used it and taught it to other people ever since.

Being careful not to break the skin, massage the mango, loosening the flesh, pushing, thumbing, pressing, fingering, more, more, a little more, till you can feel that everything between the skin and the pit is loose.

Take a small bite out of the blossom end of the mango, the end opposite the stem, and suck out the juice and crushed flesh, again being careful to allow no other holes or folds to form in the skin.

Next enlarge the hole enough to slip out the pit, which you scrape clean with your teeth.

And finally, turn the skin inside out and scrape it clean with your teeth. Eating a large ripe mango this way can take half an hour, one of the best half hours you can hope to live.