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The True Jamaican Mango Lovers
Mangoes are a Jamaican’s best friend. As mango season rolls in each year in Jamaica, everyone sharpens their teeth, waiting for that first “pretty mango” to appear on any loaded tree. Once one mango ripens, it’s an indication that in a few days, a maximum of one week, mangoes will be available wagga wagga. White pails, zinc pan, crocus bags, pants pockets, and mouths are prepped and ready to receive them.
Mangoes are said to have originated in India between the bottom of the Himalayas and Burna some 6000 years ago. Mangoes made their way to Africa first in the 1700s. However, it is said Lord Rodney intercepted a ship from France destined for Hispaniola with several varieties and brought mangoes to Jamaica. If that story is not valid, another possibility is Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection that brought such wide varieties of mangoes to our homeland. The state of Florida does well in inter-breeding mangoes. However, there is no mango like the natural Jamaican mango.
Recently, each year, East Indian mangoes are available on the street sides for sale. They are not in-season but are expertly grown to meet the needs of mango eaters year-round. The natural mango season begins around May through mid-July, during which the single-season mangoes appear in abundance: Each mango is given a local name primarily because of its appearance or taste.
Some names include: stringy (common mango or hairy), blackie mango, number 11, kidney, turpentine, black-greengage, black-sweetie, beefy, Bombay, East Indian, Haden, lady finger, Parry, pint-o’-water, Robin, St Julian (Julie), Tommy Atkins, long mango, sweetie-come-brush-mi. Each parish has its variation of mangoes — for example, St. Mary has a Cherry, butter, and Starchie mango not known anywhere else. Indeed by the end of this paragraph, you will say to yourself, “ Oh! Then what happens to this mango or that one! This list is not all-inclusive but is just a start to jog your memories.
There is no better feeling to a Jamaican than to be under a tree with mangoes, to see or hear a mango fall to the ground. Indeed, there is also no certainty that it might be those feelings developed as a child hungry for food or the sweet tasty mango pulp. It could also be that quest to bite into that good old juicy skin knowing the pulp easily converts to a delicious…
