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A mango is an edible drupe produced by the tropical tree Mangifera indica. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. M. indica has been cultivated in South Asia and Southeast Asia since ancient times resulting in two types of modern mango cultivars: the "Indian type" and the "Southeast Asian type". Other species in the genus Mangifera also produce edible fruits that are also called "mangoes", the majority of which are found in the ecoregion.
Worldwide, there are several hundred cultivars of mango. Depending on the cultivar, mango fruit varies in size, shape, sweetness, skin color, and flesh color, which may be pale yellow, gold, green, or orange.
In deep soil, the taproot descends to a depth of , with profuse, wide-spreading feeder roots and anchor roots penetrating deeply into the soil. The leaves are evergreen, alternate, simple, long, and broad; when the leaves are young they are orange-pink, rapidly changing to a dark, glossy red, then dark green as they mature. The are produced in terminal long; each flower is small and white with five petals long, with a mild, sweet fragrance. Over 500 varieties of mangoes are known, many of which ripen in summer, while some give a double crop. The fruit takes four to five months from flowering to ripening.
The ripe fruit varies according to cultivar in size, shape, color, sweetness, and eating quality. Depending on the cultivar, fruits are variously yellow, orange, red, or green. The fruit has a single flat, oblong Pyrena that can be fibre or hairy on the surface and does not separate easily from the pulp. The fruits may be somewhat round, oval, or kidney-shaped, ranging from in length and from to in weight per individual fruit. The skin is leather-like, waxy, smooth, and fragrant, with colors ranging from green to yellow, yellow-orange, yellow-red, or blushed with various shades of red, purple, pink, or yellow when fully ripe.
Ripe intact mangoes give off a distinctive , sweet smell. Inside the pit thick is a thin lining covering a single seed, long. Mangoes have recalcitrant seeds which do not survive freezing and drying. Mango trees grow readily from seeds, with germination success highest when seeds are obtained from mature fruits.
From their center of origin, mangoes diverged into two genetically distinct populations: the subtropical Indian group and the tropical Southeast Asian group. The Indian group is characterized by having monoembryonic fruits, while polyembryonic fruits characterize the Southeast Asian group.
It was previously believed that mangoes originated from a single domestication event in South Asia before being spread to Southeast Asia, but a 2019 study found no evidence of a center of diversity in India. Instead, it identified a higher unique genetic diversity in Southeast Asian cultivars than in Indian cultivars, indicating that mangoes may have originally been domesticated first in Southeast Asia before being introduced to South Asia. However, the authors also cautioned that the diversity in Southeast Asian mangoes might be the result of other reasons (like interspecific hybridization with other Mangifera species native to the ecoregion). Nevertheless, the existence of two distinct genetic populations also identified by the study indicates that the domestication of the mango is more complex than previously assumed and would at least indicate multiple domestication events in Southeast Asia and South Asia.
Cultivars that excel in one climate may fail elsewhere. For example, Indian cultivars such as 'Julie,' a prolific cultivar in Jamaica, require annual fungicide treatments to escape the lethal fungal disease anthracnose in Florida. Asian mangoes are resistant to anthracnose.
The current Western world market is dominated by the cultivar 'Tommy Atkins', a seedling of 'Haden' that first fruited in 1940 in southern Florida and was initially rejected commercially by Florida researchers.
Growers and importers worldwide have embraced the cultivar for its excellent productivity and disease resistance, shelf life, transportability, size, and appealing color. Although the Tommy Atkins cultivar is commercially successful, other cultivars may be preferred by consumers for eating pleasure, such as Alphonso.Generally, ripe mangoes have an orange-yellow or reddish peel and are juicy for eating, while exported fruit are often picked while underripe with green peels. Although producing ethylene while ripening, unripened exported mangoes do not have the same juiciness or flavor as fresh fruit.
Many commercial grown in Europe are grafted onto the cold-hardy rootstock of the Gomera-1 mango cultivar, originally from Cuba. Its root system is well adapted to a coastal Mediterranean climate. Many of the 1,000+ mango cultivars are easily agriculture using grafted saplings, ranging from the "turpentine mango" (named for its strong taste of turpentineAccording to the Oxford Companion to Food) to the Bullock's Heart. Dwarf or semidwarf varieties serve as and can be grown in containers. A wide variety of diseases can afflict mangoes.
| + Mango* production | |
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| 4.1 | |
| 3.9 | |
| 2.7 | |
| 2.6 | |
| 2.3 | |
| 2.1 | |
| 61.1 | |
A breakthrough in mango cultivation was the use of potassium nitrate and ethrel to induce flowering in mangoes. The discovery was made by Filipino people horticulturist Ramon Barba in 1974 and was developed from the unique traditional method of inducing mango flowering using smoke in the Philippines. It allowed mango plantations to induce regular flowering and fruiting year-round. Previously, mangoes were seasonal because they only flowered every 16 to 18 months. The method is now used in most mango-producing countries.
The skin of unripe, Pickling, or cooked mango can be eaten, but it has the potential to cause contact dermatitis of the lips, gingiva, or tongue in susceptible people.
Mangoes are used in many cuisines. Sour, unripe mangoes are used in (i.e., mango chutney), Mango pickle, Dal and other side dishes in Indian cuisine. A summer drink called aam panna is made with mangoes. Mango pulp made into jelly or cooked with red gram dhal and green chilies may be served with cooked rice. Mango lassi is consumed throughout South Asia, prepared by mixing ripe mangoes or mango pulp with buttermilk and sugar. Ripe mangoes are also used to make curries. Aamras is a thick juice made of mangoes with sugar or milk and is consumed with chapatis or pooris. The pulp from ripe mangoes is also used to make jam called mangada. Andhra aavakaaya is a pickle made from raw, unripe, pulpy, and sour mango mixed with chili powder, fenugreek seeds, mustard powder, salt, and groundnut oil. Mango is also used to make dahl and chunda (a sweet and spicy, grated mango delicacy). In Indonesian cuisine, unripe mango is processed into asinan, rojak and sambal pencit/mangga muda, or eaten with edible salt.
Mangoes are used to make murabba (fruit preserves), muramba (a sweet, grated mango delicacy), amchur (dried and powdered unripe mango), and pickles, including a spicy mustard-oil pickle and alcohol. Ripe mangoes are cut into thin layers, , folded, and then cut. The fruit is also added to cereal products such as muesli and oat granola.
Mango is used to make juices, , ice cream, fruit bars, , aguas frescas, , and sweet chili sauce, or mixed with chamoy, a sweet and spicy chili paste. In Central America, mango is either eaten green, mixed with salt, vinegar, black pepper, and hot sauce, or ripe in various forms.
Pieces of mango can be mashed and used as a topping on ice cream or blended with milk and ice as . Sweet glutinous rice is flavored with coconut, then served with sliced mango as mango sticky rice. In other parts of Southeast Asia, mangoes are pickled with fish sauce and rice vinegar. Green mangoes can be used in mango salad with fish sauce and dried shrimp. Mango with condensed milk may be used as a topping for shaved ice.
Raw green mangoes can be sliced and eaten like a salad.
In the Philippines, green mangoes are also commonly eaten with bagoong (salty bagoong or shrimp paste), salt, soy sauce, vinegar, or chilis. Mango float and mango cake, which use slices of ripe mangoes, are eaten in the Philippines. Dried mango of sweet, ripe mango (sometimes combined with seedless tamarind to form mangorind) are also consumed. Mangoes may be used to make juices, mango nectar, and as a flavoring and major ingredient in mango ice cream and sorbetes.
Phytochemical and nutrient content appears to vary across mango . Up to 25 different carotenoids have been isolated from mango pulp, the densest of which was beta-carotene, which accounts for the yellow-orange pigmentation of most mango cultivars. Mango leaves also have significant polyphenol content, including , mangiferin and gallic acid.
When mango trees are flowering in spring, local people with allergies may experience breathing difficulty, itching of the eyes, or facial swelling, even before flower pollen becomes airborne. In this case, the irritant is likely to be the essential oil from flowers. During the primary ripening season of mangoes, contact with mango plant parts – primarily sap, leaves, and fruit skin – is the most common cause of plant dermatitis in Hawaii.
The mango has a traditional context in the culture of South Asia. In his edicts, the Mauryan emperor Ashoka references the planting of fruit- and shade-bearing trees along imperial roads:
"On the roads banyan-trees were caused to be planted by me, (in order that) they might afford shade to cattle and men, (and) mango-groves were caused to be planted."
In medieval India, the Indo-Persian poet Amir Khusrau termed the mango " Naghza Tarin Mewa Hindustan" – "the fairest fruit of Hindustan". Mangoes were enjoyed at the court of the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji. The Mughal Empire was especially fond of the fruits: Babur praises the mango in his Baburnama. At the same time, Sher Shah Suri inaugurated the creation of the Chaunsa variety after his victory over the Mughal emperor Humayun. Mughal patronage of horticulture led to the grafting of thousands of mangoes varieties, including the famous Totapuri, which was the first variety to be exported to Iran and Central Asia. Akbar (15561605) is said to have planted a mango orchard of 100,000 trees near Darbhanga, Bihar, while Jahangir and Shah Jahan ordered the planting of mango orchards in Lahore and Delhi and the creation of mango-based desserts.
The Jain goddess Ambika is traditionally represented as sitting under a mango tree. Mango blossoms are also used in the worship of the goddess Saraswati. Mango leaves decorate archways and doors in Indian houses during weddings and celebrations such as Ganesh Chaturthi. Mango motifs and paisleys are widely used in different Indian embroidery styles, and are found in shawls, Kanchipuram and silk . In Tamil Nadu, the mango is referred to as one of the three royal fruits, along with banana and jackfruit, for their sweetness and flavor. This triad of fruits is referred to as ma-pala-vazhai. The classical Sanskrit poet Kalidasa sang the praises of mangoes.
Mangoes were the subject of the mango cult in China during the Cultural Revolution as symbols of chairman Mao Zedong's love for the people.
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