BRASIL: Why Are Its Mangos Sold Here in Texas So Bad?

Original Opinion/ No Link/

Let's get this straight - I LOVE mangoes. I used to look forward to visiting Cuba in May or June, not only to see my wife's relatives but because that's when mango season starts there. Big mangos, too, the size of small footballs with paper-thin seeds. Sweet yellow pulp, juicy and super-cheap.

Mexico produces great mangos, too. I always eagerly buy them with no complaints. And I've only heard about India's legendary mangos. Some day I hope to savor them.

So when I bought a dozen mangos from Brasil last week at Sun Harvest Markets here in Austin, Texas, I looked forward to their ripening.

Wrong! They never ripened properly. They were not sweet. They looked great on the outside just like the Mexican variety. About the size of a hand, green and red.
But, inside, they were a disaster!

Fruit so bad that I ended up taking them back to the store for a refund...all but the two I threw in the garbage! While I was getting the refund, the cashier told me that she had the same problems with her Brasilian mangos.

It's not my first bad experience with mangos from Brasil here in the U.S.
In fact, in the past I have avoided buying them simply by checking the stick-on labels. Why are Brasil's mangos so bad here? Have they been picked too early so they can be shipped? Are we getting the wrong variety?

In any case, in my haste to get some cheap mangos, I forgot to check the little stickers for origin.

Sorry, Brasil.

But never again.

Celebrate! June is "National Mango Month."

I absolutely adore mangos.

And, on the island of Cuba, the biggest, sweetest, yellowest mangos I have ever tasted...are now in full season.

OMG! I miss them.

In fact, those mangos may be the only good reason for visiting that hot, humid and often dirty island during late spring.

Anyway, today's Austin-American Statesman has a good article about the history of mangos... with some recipes that I'll never use.

Wow, this is also the first time I have linked for content to the Statesman!http://www.austin360.com/food_drink/content/food_drink/stories/2009/06/0610mango.html

Cuba Allows Mexican Flights to Resume

Granma reports that tomorrow, Monday, June 1st, flights from Mexico to La Habana can resume.
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/mayo/vier29/Informational-Note.html

The Castros essentially ended all flights from Mexico on April 30th...because of their swine flu fears.

For those tourists who have been anxiously tanning their heels for days...or even weeks...on Cancun's beaches, waiting for flights to resume...relief finally appears imminent.

I say appears...IMMINENT.

I would DREAD cueing up for tomorrow's first flights...on Click or Cubana.

Or, for that matter, even for several days afterwards.

The colas...just to buy tickets at the tiny, one-person Cancun airport counters...will be PURE HELL...as only an experienced Cuban visitor can appreciate!

It will resemble La Habana's usual... long... 5 peso pizza lines..at lunch time!

Then there's the planes themselves : tons of oversized luggage in the overheads and even the aisles, no empty seats, miserably humid heat because of lousy ACs in the dilapidated Russian and American planes that make the CUN-LAH run.

But, for the grace of God...and the recent termination of VivaAerobus flights from Austin, Texas...go I.

After getting there... Cuba in junio...is no picnic.

Except for the mangoes! Yum!

They are size of nerf footballs...and sweeter than any Mexican variety I have ever tasted in the US.

And super cheap. Maybe 5 pesos....each...at season's height (about $.20 US).