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We tasted and ranked 17 different Mango varieties to find the best one

11 points · 16 comments · aakritpatel

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  1. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

    [deleted]

  2. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
    I understand this is an old "research" but I was not on any social media for the past few years, so I'm sharing it now.
    1. Reubachi · · focus · HN ↗
      I enjoyed this, and it opened my eyes up to how fruit is both available in variety and appreciated in other parts of the world.
      1. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
        Thank you thank you. I'm so surprised that this article is suddenly blowing up when I posted it 24 hours ago haha.

        I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. Next time I'll also write translations of the more niche things written in Hindi which have cultural references to my Indian growing up.

        1. Reubachi · · focus · HN ↗
          I enjoyed the Hindi as well, seeing you (or your friends) casually mix Hindi and English reminded me of my brief visits to IN and how worldly most folks I interacted with where.

          Further, I regret not eating a single fruit while there :(

          1. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
            Let me know when you're here next time! We will go eat fruits together!
  3. gus_massa · · focus · HN ↗
    My recommendation is to be friendly with the greengrocery employee/owner so they recommend the best mangos. (I'm not sure there are so many varieties here, but picking one that is ripe to eat today is not so easy.)
    1. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
      Fair enough. From where you stand this is absolutely correct.

      Where I'm from, there's so many mangoes to choose from. And yes, everyone starts with the vendor's recommendation. But at some point you really start to wonder what else is out there.

      So that's how I ended up here.

    2. pvab3 · · focus · HN ↗
      Let me ask Mr Walmart to see what he thinks
      1. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
        "Mr Walmart" hehehe. That's nice.

        For a moment I really did personify that giant soul-less corporation. Good wordplay. :)

      2. gus_massa · · focus · HN ↗
        Within a distance of less than 1/3 mile, we have like 3 big faceless supermarkets and like 5 (perhaps more) small greengroceries. We make a big monthly purchase at a big supermarket ("Coto") using the online page, but we don't include the fruit and fresh vegetables there (only some frozen ones). We buy the fruits and most vegetables in one of the greengroceries. This one usually has better quality and give good advice.
        1. pvab3 · · focus · HN ↗
          Yeah we actually only buy produce from the farmer's market and we have certain vendors we like more than others. I was just kidding about walmart
  4. wy1981 · · focus · HN ↗
    There is a Pakistani variant called "Anwar Ratol" which is not in the list. I believe, it's the best mango variety ever.
    1. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
      Okay, now I just have to wait till I get my hands on this. Thanks for this though! I didn't even know this existed. And now I do.

      Hopefully I can get my hands on it during the second league. :)

  5. AndrewKemendo · · focus · HN ↗
    (2024)

    No Kent or Carabao? I’m assuming the author is in India as Philippine mangoes are much smaller

    I find Kent to be hit or miss depending on the season but carabao are almost universally either sour patch tart or like one bite perfect

    Incidentally it was interesting watching how the mango sources in the US would all change right after the tarrifs and each Mango went from .98 to 1.98 over the last two years.

    1. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
      Ohhh. .I didn't even know Kent or Carabao were Mango varieties.

      Thank you for telling me about them.

      When I do the next version, I will secure these varieties too and then eat them. And get back to you :P

      Also yes, it was written in 2024. I wrote it right after a very bad breakup where I dated someone for ~6 months and then they walked away from the relationship while we were speaking about marriage.

      I ended up finding comfort (a little too much perhaps) in hanging out with friends and eating mangoes.

      That's the Mango Affogato reference at the start. I was Mango, she was the Affogato.

  6. Markoff · · focus · HN ↗
    meh, very subjective, I assume author is located in India, I loved eating mangoes in China, Malaysia and Thailand (in latter two on daily ocassion) and definitely none of them were green/colorful, only good ones were the yellow ones, so the 2nd photo all varietes are immediately disqualified

    btw. too sweet ain't good as well, sometimes I even liked little bit hit of sourness for change, shame here in Europe is impossible to buy good mango, only those red/green ones which taste all pretty bad

    anyway I'd recommend everyone chilled dragonfruit, amazing tasty juicy fruit beating even mango and much easier to consume, can just cut it in half and eat content with spoon + no risk of anything being stuck between your teeth like with mango

    1. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
      I do agree, it is a very subjective article. That's why I call it "research" in double quotes. The whole thing is more of an opinion piece than actual research.

      Green mangoes can be good too. I don't know how those in China, Malaysia and Thailand taste, and I hope to, some day. But I can certainly tell you Sindhura tastes good even when it's green.

      Also yes, too sweet is weird. That's what happened to some of the varities we tried too. I think some of those pasha pasand and such varieties fell off because they were tooo sweet. I agree with you there.

      I have tried dragonfruit. Maybe the ones here aren't as good because they seem very tasteless.. Like jelly.. but tasteless? I'll still try the chilled version this weekend and report back to you, okay?

      I've never tried durian too. Don't think I even want to. Have read some really nasty things about the smell.

      1. Markoff · · focus · HN ↗
        Non-chilled dragonfruit would be probably quite bland, chilling completely changes the flavor. It's same for me with gummy bears, I have them in fridge, like them chilled, but at room temperature they are meh, so can eat them only for short time after taking out from fridge.

        As I said, if you wouldn't know bad durian reputation and just had blind test, you would probably not notice particularly bad smell, it has some distinct smell/fragrance, but I wouldn't call it bad. Some Czech cheese and many other European cheese varietes have way more unpleasant smell than durian, if I had to choose in what smelly enviroment I wanna be durian would for sure beat most of this European cheese.

        1. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
          Okayy... I get you. Have you tried half frozen grapes with sugar drizzled on them? They taste insanely better than the normal deal.

          I'm in my hometown so we don't have dragonfruit here. When I go back to my work-city, I'll try the dragonfruit thing!

          Thanks for the recco.

          1. Markoff · · focus · HN ↗
            nope, I might try it, though I think they re sweet enough as they are even without extra sugar

            but I remember while travelling once in India in very hot bus one fellow traveller offered me watermelon with some spice which was very interesting flavor (as interesting as salted chocolate for instance) and good combination, but never figured out what spice they used, normally I don't like watermelon at all, but together with spice it was interesting combo, could never reproduce it again :-( it will be 20 years since my visit next year

  7. yread · · focus · HN ↗
    Once I found sour sop mangos are just boring
    1. rf15 · · focus · HN ↗
      Also recommending soursop as upgrade to mango - although they are much harder to transport and much less widely available.
      1. aakritpatel · · focus · HN ↗
        Okay, I have no idea what sour sop is.. let me google what this is and hopefully I end up finding something I love even more than Mangoes.
  8. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

    [deleted]

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