April 9, 2008...10:34 pm
Pehla Nashaa
The first batch of mangoes have hit the grocery stores here in the US. I got hold of some Atulfo mangoes from Mexico this past week. The mangoes smelled sooooo good that i couldn’t walk past that bin without picking up a few. Here is what we did with them -
Now, these Atulfo mangoes come nowhere close to the KING, the famous Alphonso mangoes a.k.a. Ratnagiri aapoos. That’s why I converted them into milkshake form instead of eating them straight. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the delicious aapoos mangoes that will soon be available here. Thankfully, the US government finally allowed the export of mangoes from India last year and we deprived Indian Americans eagerly bought every single box of aapoos that landed on US shores last year. This season will be no different, I think. The sour-faced guy in the Indian grocery store told me that crates of aapoos will be arriving by June. I will be counting the days until then for sure. And also saving up some money in the meantime as the Indian stores here usually rob us blind for these lovelies. But nothing they do can diminish the ecstasy of biting into a juicy and fleshy Alphonso mango. And nothing that can remind me more of India.
3 Comments
April 10, 2008 at 11:43 am
An Alphonso Mango is not a fruit. It is a religious experience - only better.
April 11, 2008 at 8:26 am
I’m Goan and my memories of mangoes are from lazy hot summer holidays in our ancestral home, picking them off the ground from the trees in our backyard and eating them straightaway; eating mangoes till they came out of my ears! Sigh! That milkshake looks divine. Drink a second (possibly a third and a fourth) glass for us, will you?
April 12, 2008 at 2:05 pm
@Broom - totally agree! HG tells me that there is some variety called ‘imam pasand’ that trumps the Alphonso. It seems these mangoes are only exported and not available in the domestic market. But till I see proof of its existence, I think I am going to believe that this was HG’s creative invention.
@f: Happy to oblige!
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