Tropical Ingredients

Mango

Mangifera indica

Sweet and succulent with a peachy, lightly floral flavour.

4 min read·Updated September 22, 2026
Growing regions: South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America
Other names: Amba (Sinhala: අඹ); Maampazham (Tamil: மாம்பழம்); Mangga / buah mangga (Malay, Indonesian); Mamuang (Thai: มะม่วง); Aam (Hindi); Manga (Portuguese, source of the English word)
Family Anacardiaceae Best for Desserts, salads, drinks, snacks

Description

Mango is an edible stone fruit from Mangifera indica, a large evergreen tree in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae). The trees grow 30–40 metres tall, are remarkably long-lived, and bear sweet-scented white flowers in terminal clusters. The fruit is a juicy drupe with a single flat, fibrous stone, ranging from about 140 g up to 2 kg.

The skin is leathery and waxy, ripening from green to yellow, orange, or red; the flesh ranges from pale yellow to deep orange. A ripe mango is unmistakable — it gives off a resinous, sweet perfume, and the flesh is sweet and succulent with a peachy, lightly floral flavour.

Origin & History

Mango originated in northeastern South Asia — today's Bangladesh, north-east India and Myanmar — and has been cultivated there since ancient times, diverging into subtropical "Indian" and tropical "Southeast Asian" lineages. The English word traces through Portuguese manga to the Tamil mān and kāy via Malayalam.

Arab and Persian traders carried it to East Africa by the 9th–10th centuries; the Portuguese took it from Goa across Africa to Brazil by the 16th–17th centuries, and it reached Florida only in 1833. The poet Amir Khusrau dubbed it "the fairest fruit of Hindustan", and emperor Akbar reportedly planted an orchard of 100,000 trees. India remains a major centre of mango cultivation and culinary diversity.

Uses

Culinary

  • Fresh: Ripe mango eaten out of hand, the classic tropical dessert
  • Green & sour: Unripe fruit sliced into salads, or made into chutneys and pickles (avakaya in India)
  • Drinks: Mango lassi (South Asia) and aam panna, a cooling summer drink
  • Snacks: Unripe mango in Indonesian rujak and asinan, eaten with salt and chilli sauce

Medicinal

  • Traditional use: Long used in South Asian folk remedies, though most uses remain traditional rather than clinically proven
  • Bioactive compounds: Flesh and leaves contain carotenoids such as beta-carotene, polyphenols, and a unique xanthonoid called mangiferin, studied for antioxidant activity

Other Uses

  • Wood & dye: Once fruiting life ends, the wood goes to ukuleles, plywood and furniture; the bark yields a yellow dye

Nutritional Benefits

A ripe mango is about 84% water and supplies roughly 60 calories per 100 g. Its standout nutrient is vitamin C — around 36.4 mg per 100 g, 40% of the daily value — with meaningful folate (about 43 µg) and copper. The orange-gold flesh is also a recognised source of provitamin A carotenoids, chiefly beta-carotene.

The peel, flesh and leaves contain polyphenols, carotenoids and mangiferin under study for antioxidant activity. As with any fruit, mango is a nourishing food rather than a medicine, and its benefits come from including it in a varied diet.

Note: mango is related to poison ivy and poison oak. Its peel and sap contain urushiol-like oils that can trigger contact dermatitis — see below.

How to Prepare

  1. Choose: Pick fruit that yields to a gentle squeeze near the stem and smells sweet at the stem end; colour alone is not a reliable cue
  2. Slice the cheeks: Cut down either side of the flat stone to release two rounded "cheeks"
  3. Score & scoop: Cross-hatch each cheek without piercing the skin, then push the skin outward and slice the cubes free — or scoop with a spoon
  4. Allergy awareness: Mango peel and sap can cause contact dermatitis. If you have reacted to mango before, seek advice from a clinician rather than assuming peeling makes it safe.
Tips: Store firm fruit at room temperature to ripen, then refrigerate once soft. The flesh pairs beautifully with lime, coconut, chilli, mint and sticky rice.

Recipes

As Jungle Kitchen develops recipes featuring mango, those will be linked here.

Suggested applications: Mango sticky rice, mango lassi, green mango salad with chilli and lime, mango and coconut sorbet.

Varieties

  • Alphonso — prized for its soft, honeyed flesh; often called the "king of mangoes"
  • Kesar, Langra and Dasheri — sweet Indian dessert cultivars
  • Tommy Atkins — the shelf-stable, blush-red workhorse of Western supermarkets
  • Julie — a sweet Caribbean favourite grown from Indian stock

Hundreds of cultivars exist, differing in flavour, fibre content, size and keeping quality.

Fun Facts

  • Mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines, and the national tree of Bangladesh
  • Emperor Ashoka ordered mango avenues planted along imperial roads to shade cattle and people
  • Some mango trees still fruit after three hundred years