Mango Season!

delicious Alphonso Mangoes

Bryn here. Man, life has been BUSY here in Al Ain lately! I apologise for not posting in a long time. It's cranking up towards summer here. This morning when I left the house at 10:00am it was 40 degrees  (104 F), and when I got home at 11:20, it was 43 (109 F)! It's now afternoon, and I can only imagine how high the mercury has climbed since 11:20am.

The warmer weather means it's mango season!!
All the supermarkets here have huge piles of mangoes, and some great low prices too. I've been taking advantage of this "mango fiesta" (as one of my local shops called it). I've been buying bags of mangoes and making smoothies, deserts, lassis, and just eating them straight. My favourite is a creamy drink I've been making with "laban", a sort of drinkable yoghurt popular here in the UAE.

Basically, the recipe is:


2 mangoes peeled and chopped
2 cups-ish of "laban" (could do half milk, half yoghurt if you don't have access to laban)
a squirt of honey
a small dash of cinnamon and cardamom

Blitz mangoes in blender till smooth, and add other ingredients. Blitz again until combined. EASY!

Of course, you don't have to do the spices if you're not big into spice. I've been thinking of mixing it up and changing the spices, perhaps trying nutmeg? it might be gross, but the mangoes are cheap at the moment, so now is the time to be experimental. If you have any ideas, let me know and I might try it.

I have found that the Badami Mangoes tend to work better in the smoothies than the Alphonso Mangoes because they are creamier in texture, almost like a banana. I think the Alphonsos taste better as raw fruit, but they tend to be very slightly fiberous or "bitty" in a smoothie.

anyone who's ever made a smoothie before will know how easy this is. But it tastes great! Sometimes I add some milk to make it more drinkable, because the laban tends to thicken up when blended). If you like mangoes, and if the weather is hot where you are, I recommend you treat yourself to one of these mango smoothies. Liz wouldn't like it though, what with the yoghurt/laban and all...

large, sweet, creamy Badami Mangoes

Anyway, one day, while chopping up some big sweet Badami mangoes, I decided to plant one of the seeds, just out of interest. The trick is, you have to split open the pithy outer shell without damaging the soft seed inside. This sounds easier than it is, because imagine trying to hold a slippery slimy mango "seed" while trying to force it open with a sharp knife... haha. Not easy, but paper towels helped.

the slippery outer shell

the successfully split shell and the soft seed that came out of it

Once opened, I planted the seed in an empty yoghurt pottle. I planted it so the seed was lying flat. it spouted within a week!!! As I said, it's getting pretty warm here, and I kept it well moist, so I guess the conditions were perfect.

Once sprouted, it rocketed up!! Within two weeks it had several leaves and was about a foot tall.

Growth has now slowed, but the leaves have risen upwards and grown bigger, and I can see many new leaves starting to sprout.

I'm excited about my mango tree. I need to get a bigger pot for it. I have already re-potted it once, but just this morning I checked the bottom of the pot, and the roots are starting to come out the drain holes, so I'll have to find a deeper pot.

I think mango season will be over soon, so I'll have to keep enjoying it until the low prices come to an end.