You go your whole life thinking you're down to the mud in the bottom of the well on a certain topic, then along comes someone to show you something new. Case in point, here is a video of a woman demonstrating how to cut and eat a mango in a fairly tidy fashion, "hedgehog" style. This knowledge might have slipped past me because hedgehogs aren't native to Florida, or even to N. America for that matter, and my only mango-eating example in the wild has been the raccoon, who only confused me by washing the peeling. Having grown up in a house with a mango tree outside and a mango aficionado inside, it had been demonstrated to me on countless occasions that the ladylike way to eat a mango was to cut off the peel, then sit down with a thick towel across your chest and chew and slurp until only the pit remained. Lacking the female's innate and delicate refinement, the native Florida man has been known to set aside such niceties:
First, select your mango and find a sharp knife. Carry them to the bathroom. Take off all your clothes. Then get into the shower with your mango and your knife.Slice the skin into four sections and peel it off. If, like me, you are a complete mango addict, then you will risk getting a little "poison" from the skin on your lips just so you can gnaw the fruit from the peel. Once the peel is dispatched, sit down in the shower. Hold the fruit in your hand and go at it.
A versatile fruit, that the mango consists of a sturdy peel wrapping, a bit of thick flesh, and a large, heavy pit also makes it an excellent projectile. Used with the correct amount of force and a good aim square between the shoulder blades, it can knock the air out of a fleeing enemy and take him to the ground.
Posted by floridacracker at June 17, 2007 03:49 PMand a large, heavy pit also makes it an excellent projectile.
funny!
I think I heard alton brown say you can do the same with a well washed mango pit that you can do with an avocado pit.
Posted by: Wickedpinto at June 17, 2007 10:23 PMThe Mango is the secret Flarda fruit that we whip out on all those yanquis who think they know everything..and we tell them it's an oblong grapefruit.
Also, if you take the peeling and rub it all over you lips, it prevents chapping and sunburn.
If you stick toothpicks in the seed and suspend it over a glass of water, it won't grow any avocados.
Posted by: csason at June 18, 2007 07:18 AMDonnah Lee, I have three trees from that one out of Mom's yard. I would sprout you one, but your neighborhood plant police would probably object. BTW, sorry to hear your Royal Poinsetta tree was condemed, or should I bring that up (?)
Last summer I served mango at a little thing I had for some ladies at my house. First, they questioned what it was, then they politely put a few wedges on their plate.
Later on in the evening, they were standing over the table slurping mango down like Lilly eating birthday cake.
I thought mango would be an attractive table garnish, or even a converstion piece. But it was more like crack, once they started on it they couldn't stop.
Mango's... /sigh
One of my vices I so thoroughly enjoy because just like good sex, it gets messy when you eat one and there's nothing else like it.
Posted by: Gmac at June 18, 2007 10:00 AMoh my... How silly of me.. Jasmyne's middle name was Leigh (my wife wouldn't let me spell it 'Lee') , Jazzy was my daughter who got to go to Heaven first.
I am just surprised at how short sighted I have been all these nearly two years..or so..
Just another star in your crown I suppose.
About the mango life...
When I was kid in Bradenton, I discovered mangoes
that the world doesn't even know exists. The Bradenton area is just smothered with those, and avocados and Banyan trees. There are some mango trees over that way that have those 'butter mangoes'- They are big, juicy..and you have to hunt for a stringy one... the texture of the meat is like an avoacado. I wish I had one now.
What does a Royal Poinsetta look like ?? Much nicer than these sickly varigatted ones I see everywhere, I'd bet.
Nancy, around thirty yar ago, my Daddy asked me to help him plant some (more) trees. This time it was some pecan trees his cousin Hubert had saved for him from Georgia.
Now, when I drive over to see my Mom, I get to park in the shade of those monsters..and it makes my heart full.
Posted by: csason at June 18, 2007 03:58 PMSorry, it's Royal Poinciana, not poinsetta.
They grow to be huge, with boughs that stretch out from east to west.
The blooms are flame,flame, flame.
Regal.
The tree in bloom will take your breath away.
They only grow in Florida in the US.
When I was a kid, we were stationed at Howard AFB in Panama. My dad built us a tree fort in... a mango tree. We'd gorge ourselves on them when they ripened.
Oh, and cover ourselves with the juices as we ate them too. This caused mom no end of laundry problems.
Posted by: Hucbald at June 19, 2007 02:30 AMsuckers... i live in thailand. i can bathe and wallow in mangoes if i wanna :)
i've never quite reached the eating it naked in the shower stage (altho, now that the idea has been planted in my head, it makes a lot of sense)... but definitely the only other sane way to eat a *ripe* mango is a la hedgehog over the kitchen sink and not suitable for children under the age of 18.
Now eating green mango is another thing entirely. Any of you folks tried that with the requisite stinky shrimp sauce?
(Not the weird Mexican mangoes available now)
Best eaten at the beach...then dive into the waves to wash off.
Guava is my second favorite Florida fruit.
Sweet memories!
I agree about the guava... it's still makes my favorite jelly. Florida Muscadine grapes are good too.
There were wild vines that grew by a creek where my friends and I sometimes went swimming when cutting school.
lotta fun
Guava's my favorite jelly too.
Posted by: Donnah at June 20, 2007 09:33 PMOlive with coconut, circa 2005:
http://thumbsnap.com/v/Ax65sTyw.jpg
Olive with Mango, Memorial Day 2007:
http://thumbsnap.com/v/JbuAq2Pa.jpg
We've been pretty busy with that last combo. It's like having a WWF match going on in your house - 24 hours a day.
Posted by: tfhr at June 20, 2007 10:42 PM