I had no idea what this condition was, but I knew it wasn’t normal ripening. So I dashed off an email to Dr. Richard Campbell, a horticulturist in Florida who is THE authority on mangoes. He was kind enough to write back quickly and told me that the mangoes likely had a fungus called Diplodia.
Being the mango consumer advocate that I am, I asked him if the mango importer would have known/could tell that the mangoes they were shipping off to market were going to have this problem upon ripening. He said the importer wouldn’t have known because the Diplodia “sits latent on the stem and enters as the fruit softens. This is not uncommon in fruit that was harvested immature.” Okay, someone is off the hook. Lucky for the importer, because you know I would have HOWLED about it if the answer were different. Harvesting immature fruit isn’t going to win any importer a Mango Maven seal of approval, but at least the importer wasn’t knowingly pushing doomed fruit onto consumers.
So what to do if you get a batch like this? Take ’em back to the store where you bought them. Tell the produce buyer about the problem and ask for your money back. That’s about all there is…
I wish I could say I’ve never had a bad mango, but between this batch and Tommy Atkins mangoes, I’ve for sure had my share! As an aside, I wonder if Richard Campbell hates Tommy Atkins mangoes as much as I do? I secretly hope so, but there are some things a mango gal just can’t ask. For all I know, he may have a pet Tommy Atkins tree in his backyard. Bah! I secretly hope NOT. But I digress…
