The Buyer's Guide to Indian Mangoes
"He Visits My Town Once A Year,
He visits my town once a year.
He fills my mouth with kisses and nectar.
I spend all my money on him.
Who, girl, your man?
No, a mango."
- Amir Khusrau
When the Mughal Emperor Babur conquered Northern India, he was unimpressed with the country’s native fruits. He wrote in the Baburnama that India had “no good fruits” in its bazaars to recommend, unlike the grapes and melons of his hometown Ferghana in Central Asia. However, there was one fruit that even the critical conqueror Babur admitted was the “best fruit of the Hindustan”, and that is the mango, nowadays considered the King of fruits.
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit, native to the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia. It comes in several shapes, long, oval, round, or kidney-shaped. It is often compared to a woman's breasts in Indian poetry. The mango flowers are small, whitish-yellow, fragrant, and the skin of the fruit is often tinged in hues of green, orange, yellow, and red.
The mango tree and its fruit have impacted the culture of the Indian subcontinent in startling ways. The mango has inspired poetry, chutneys, motifs, and stories, all of which is good, but its greatest contribution has been to fuel a nation through its hot summer months with its juicy, tangy-sweet and delectable flesh.
What are Mangoes?
Mangoes are drupes or stone fruit of the Mangifera indica tree, a beloved and much revered tree of the Indian subcontinent.
The mango tree gives out its yellow-white fragrant flowers in late winter - early spring from which forms the fruit that matures and becomes ready to eat in the hot summer months of April-May.
The mangoes cultivated in Southern India (Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu) are different in flavour and eating experience from the varieties cultivated in northern India (UP, Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra). Each variety of mango has its own eating experience and taste.
The mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and the tree is the national tree of Bangladesh.
Varieties of North Indian Mangoes
Alphonso
The Alphonso a.k.a. the King of mangoes. It is the most popular Indian mango variety all across the Western World, and was named after the Portuguese Viceroy Afonso de Albuquerque. It also goes by the local name Hapus or Badami. It’s native to the Raigad and Ratnagiri regions of Maharashtra, and cultivated in other states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Its distinctive aroma and phenomenal taste make it the most expensive of the Indian mangoes.
Chausa
The Chausa is native to Bihar and UP and is a trickle-down-your-hands juicy variety of mangoes. Upon ripening, the Chausa is a bright yellow with a soft and sweet pulp.
Banaras Langra
From the Varanasi region of UP, the Banarasi Langra is a soft, juicy, and low-fibre mango variety that is sweet to the taste. Strangely, its skin remains green even after ripening. First cultivated in the farmlands of a man without legs (hence the name Langra or lame), the Langra mango is a famous UP variety.
Dasheri
Dasheri mango is another famous variety from UP, hailing from the village of Mahilabad which is famous for its mango farming. Dasheri is a fragrant mango with a sweet, soft, fibreless pulp that is perfect for milkshakes and other desserts.
Kesar
The Kesar mango smells like kesar or saffron and has a deep orange colour just like the saffron spice after which it is named. It is one of the more expensive mangoes that is famous for its superior taste and fibreless pulp. Native to Junagadh in Gujarat, it was cultivated by the Nawabs of the region and named Kesar in 1934.
Varieties of South Indian Mangoes
Totapuri / Kilimooku
Native to the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, this mango is so named because of its resemblance to the beak of a parrot. It’s greenish, mild, and used mostly in salads and pickles. The unripe Totapuri mango is sliced thin and served with salt and chilli powder at Chennai's famous Marina Beach. Its tart flavour complements the heat of the chilli powder mixed with salt.
Neelam
Neelam is a popular South Indian variety that appears late in the mango-eating season, during the monsoon months of July and August. Found in states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Neelam has a distinctive floral odour and fibreless flesh.
Mallika
Mallika mangoes were developed during the 1970s in New Delhi at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). It's a cross between a Neelam and a Dasheri. The aim was to combine the late season produce of Neelam with the matchless taste of a Dasheri.
Imam Pasand
Sweet, creamy and fibreless, the Imam Pasand mango is available from mid-April to June and was the favourite fruit of the Mughals and the Nawabs of Hyderabad.
Banginapalli
Banginapalli are so named because of the region they are from, Banaganapalle, in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. They are oval in shape with clear yellow skin with a few spots, a pleasant aroma and are around 14cm in length. They are clean to eat and can be chopped into cubes for an easy dessert with vanilla ice-cream.
Raspuri
The Raspuri is a variety of mango that is native to the Mysuru district of Karnataka. It’s often referred to as the Queen of Mangoes. Tastes best in yoghurts, smoothies and jams.
Which Indian mangoes are GI Tagged?
India has 12 varieties of GI-Tagged mangoes. A GI-Tag or a Geographical Tag is a special tag given by the government of India to the mangoes hailing from a particular region having unique or distinctive qualities. The twelve mango varieties which received the coveted GI tag are:
Alphonso from the Konkan district of Maharashtra
Banginapalli from Andhra Pradesh
Malihabadi Dasheri from the banks of the river Gomti in Uttar Pradesh
Gir Kesar from Junagadh in Gujarat
Fazli from the Malda district of West Bengal
Marathwada Kesar from Maharashtra
Kuttiatoor from the Kannur district of Kerala
Bhagalpuri Zardalu from Bihar
Himsagar from the Malda district of West Bengal
Appemidi from the Shimoga district of Karnataka
Laxman Bhog from Malda district of West Bengal
Rataul from Uttar Pradesh
Which Indian mangoes are exported?
India is the largest producer of mangoes but exports only 1% of the yearly produce since the remainder of the crop is consumed by its mango-loving people.
The varieties of Indian mangoes which are exported are Alphonso, Totapuri, Kesar, Dashehari, Rajapuri, and Banganapalli.
The Indian mango is exported to only a few neighbouring countries. This is export data from 2000-2010. India exported most of its mangoes to Bangladesh followed by the UAE.
Bangladesh (47.67%)
United Arab Emirates (31.33%)
Nepal (5.95%)
Saudi Arabia (3.86%)
United Kingdom (2.87%)
Bahrain (1.24%)
During the period of 2010-2020, fresh Indian mangoes were exported to countries such as:
United Arab Emirates (48.75%)
Bangladesh (14.06%)
Nepal (11.63 %)
United Kingdom (5.81%)
Saudi Arabia (3.85%)
Qatar (3.16%)
Kuwait (2.60%)
Oman (2.50%)
Bahrain (1.61%)
Singapore (1.38%)
India also exports mango pulp to countries that lie further West like Germany, Belgium, the UK and the US.
Which Indian Mangoes to Use in Your Recipes?
The Indian mango is used to make a variety of chutneys, jams, drinks, juices, desserts, ice-creams, milkshakes, and pickles. Certain mangoes are perfect for certain recipes, as we shall see. The Totapuri is perfect for making aam panna, a refreshing summery drink as old as the Vedas. The aam panna was probably served to Mughal kings Akbar and Babur, who enjoyed its clean taste in the heat of summer. Totapuri is used in raw salads, adding a touch of tartness and in making pickles.
The tangy Langra can also be used to make raw green salads, drinks like the aam panna, and added to fruit bowls. The sweet Banginapalli is another favourite alternative for fruit bowls. Kesar and Alphonso, with their fibreless flesh, are also used in making juices and milkshakes and the thick sauce aamras. Kesar, Langra, and Alphonso can be used to make Thai mango sticky rice. Alphonso and Kesar are also used to make mango mousse, ice-cream, shrikhand, and mango cheesecake. The Malda mango is a top choice for making chutneys, because of its sweet and sour tangy flavour.
Do Mangoes Have Any Health Benefits?
Mango does have dietary benefits. It provides around 40% of the daily dietary fibre that is needed by a person. It also contains potassium, beta-carotene, and antioxidants.