Why sell and buy green mangoes. How to bring mango from Thailand

Mango is a very tasty tropical fruit. This fruit, when ripe, has tender yellow flesh with a sweet and sour taste.

Mangoes can be sold by the kilo, made into smoothies, or sold peeled and sliced.

In shops and fruit markets, you could see that they sell not only yellow mangoes, but also clearly unripe yellow-green mangoes and completely raw green ones. If you have been asking these questions: what are unripe and green mangoes for, are they tasty and can they be eaten, then this article will answer them.

Moreover, unripe and green mangoes can be sold even in already cut form.

Why sell and buy green mangoes

If you saw the note “Why sell and buy green bananas. How to cook and eat green bananas”, then you can assume that green mangoes will ripen at some point. This is indeed a correct assumption, but only partly.

Green mangoes are cheaper, as you can see in the next photo, green mangoes cost 39 baht per kilo.

And in the next photo you can see the price for yellow mangoes – 89 baht per kilogram – more than 2 times more expensive!

Green mangoes can ripen, but this does not always happen in reality – this will be discussed later.

So, green mangoes are sold because:

• they are more than 2 times cheaper, but you can still get yellow mangoes from them
• they are easier to transport, they are not as tender and soft as yellow
• mango can be eaten unripe

How to cook and eat green mangoes

Mangoes in the medium ripe state and in the unripe form are edible, and the Thais like to eat them as follows: pieces of unripe mango are dipped in a mixture of sugar and chili (hot pepper). I tried – I didn't like it.

They also make a green mango salad. As the locals explained to me, “this is the same salad as Som Tam (papaya salad), but only with mango”. I don't like Som Tam at all (a sour, spicy salad with a strong unpleasant smell), so I didn't even try it.

Speaking of how mangoes are eaten in Thailand, you can see variants of ripe yellow mango with sticky rice and also with sugar. All my experience of eating mangoes says only one thing: the most delicious are yellow, fully ripe mangoes that do not need to be mixed with anything, their original taste is better than all the options listed.

How to transport mangoes: how to bring mangoes from Thailand

If you want to bring a few mangoes from Thailand to your country, then first think about it, perhaps you can buy about the same mangoes at the nearest grocery store, and you do not need to do unnecessary work.

However, if you want to bring mangoes from Thailand (and they are really delicious!), then by no means buy fully ripe yellow mangoes – most likely they will not survive the journey to the airport and flight. Find a green-yellow mango in the store – a little immature and therefore still quite firm.

Buy baskets or containers that will protect the mangoes from damage. Damaged green mangoes are more likely to start spoiling than ripening.

How do mangoes ripen from green to yellow

First, unlike bananas, very green mangoes, instead of ripening to yellow, may simply begin to spoil (rot). Even in the hot climate of Thailand, this happens to some of them. To increase the chance of ripening, choose mangoes that are already a little yellow (but not too ripe if you're going to be transporting them a long distance).

Mangoes will successfully ripen only in warm temperatures (+30 °C and above). In cold climates, they may begin to spoil before they are ripe.