Utterly OT: mangos

When you find a nice ripe mango and you're stuck without your pitter, just find the flattest side of the mango, and put it flattest side down in the palm of your non-dominant hand. With a knife longer than the mango is wide, start at one end and slice parallel to your palm, letting the blade slip up and over the pit. Slice from one end to the other and you'll have a "cheek". Turn the mango over and repeat the process, and you'll have the second "cheek", and a halo of fruit left around the pit.

Turn each cheek skin side down, score the fruit, invert the cheek and slice off the flesh. DH says the halo is the prep cook's bonus... ;-)

Personally, I find that every mango smells and tastes like gasoline to me, so I don't enjoy them at all. But I've learned to prep a bunch of mangoes in record time, and DH is always willing to dispose of the halos.

BTW, if you're sensitized to poison ivy/poison oak/poison sumac, be *very* careful with mangoes. Many people have cross-sensitivities with mango.

Kay

Isn't that odd? I have always thought that guacamole smells like kerosene. I eat it, but I don't breathe when I take a bite.

Cindy

Yah, it's the difference between climacteric and non-climacteric fruit. Good book: How to Pick a Peach, by Russ Parsons.

FWIW, DH says the "Champagne" mangoes (cv Ataulfo) Costco had in the spring were the best he's had since moving from the West Indies. They apparently don't chill them too badly in transit.

Kay

Now for me it's bell peppers that smell and taste of petrol (gasoline). Isn't it strange how differetnly we perceive tastes & smells.

Lizzy