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

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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.