THE SWEET TASTE OF JAMAICA - JAMAICA TOURIST ISSUE 15
Brought to the West Indies from Southeast Asia, the mango is Jamaica’s most popular fruit. Every year, both children and adults eagerly anticipate mango season. Colorful, sweet and juicy, the mango usually ripens sometime in May and spreads its fruity flavors around the island until July. Enjoy as many of the different varieties of mangoes as you can during your visit, they just seem to taste sweeter in Jamaica!
Cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions around the world, the first mango plant is said to have arrived in Jamaica in 1782 aboard Lord Rodney’s ship ‘HMS Flora’, who had captured the plant from a French ship on the high seas. Today, the mango tree reaches it’s branches into most island homes and it is almost mandatory for property owners in Jamaica to plant a mango tree in their back yard. Thus, the sweet treats are available in abundance and can be picked right from the tree.
During mango season, roadside vendors offering the juicy fruits in attractively arranged baskets or conveniently packed in bags are a customary sight and the island’s supermarkets offer a variety of the pretty red, yellow or green fruit. It is not uncommon to spot mango trees along the roadside, overloaded with one of the many different types that grow on the island.
Every Jamaican has a favorite type. While some hail the sweet ‘Bombay’ as the ‘holy grail of mango’, the most common and beloved varieties are the ‘East Indian’ and ‘St. Julian’, otherwise called ‘Julie’. Add to those the ‘Black Mango’ (Blackie), ‘Number 11’, ‘Robin’, ‘Longy’, ‘Stringy’ and the ‘Common Mango’, all with their own special appeal. With some training, you can learn to identify them by their look, smell, flesh and of course, taste. Ask any islander, and you will learn of yet another variety that you can add to your growing list of mango names.
In Jamaica, mangoes grow in every parish, but St. Elizabeth, St. Mary, Clarendon and St. Thomas are known to have crops available in abundance. While St. Elizabeth is said to be the ‘land of Black Mangoes’, St. Mary produces a profusion of ‘East Indian’, St. Thomas both ‘East Indian’ and ‘St. Julian’ and Clarendon a plentiful quantity of the more common ‘Stringy’. Mangoes do not only taste good, they contain many essential vitamins and minerals. A 165 gram serving contains 25% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A, 76% of vitamin C and 9% of vitamin E. Good levels of B vitamins, particularly B6, vitamin K, amino acids, potassium and copper are also present. Even the peel and the pulp are full of antioxidant carotenoids and polyphenols as well as omega-3 and -6 fatty acids. Additionally, mangoes are used as aphrodisiacs...
Some people simply tear off the fruit’s skin with their teeth and eat the sweet flesh ‘au natural’ while others prefer a knife or a sophisticated cutter. Many extract the juice or enjoy it for dessert, often with some ice cream. More unusual ways of enjoying certain varieties of mango is to sprinkle them with salt or black pepper while they are half ripe or “turn”, or as mango chutney popularly used as a sweet condiment to accompany spicy curry dishes.
The love for mango is expressed in an old Jamaican folk song: Mi nuh drink coffee tea mango time Care how nice it may be mango time In the heat of the mango crop When di fruit dem a ripe an drop Wash your pot turn dem down mango time De terpentine large an fine, mango time Robin mango so sweet, mango time Number eleven an hairy skin Pack dibankraan ram dem in For dibankramus’ full, mango time Mekwi go a mango walk, mango time For is only di talk mango time Mekwi jump pondi big jackass Ride im dung an no tap a pass Mekdi best a di crop, mango time ENJOY!
Cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions around the world, the first mango plant is said to have arrived in Jamaica in 1782 aboard Lord Rodney’s ship ‘HMS Flora’, who had captured the plant from a French ship on the high seas. Today, the mango tree reaches it’s branches into most island homes and it is almost mandatory for property owners in Jamaica to plant a mango tree in their back yard. Thus, the sweet treats are available in abundance and can be picked right from the tree.
During mango season, roadside vendors offering the juicy fruits in attractively arranged baskets or conveniently packed in bags are a customary sight and the island’s supermarkets offer a variety of the pretty red, yellow or green fruit. It is not uncommon to spot mango trees along the roadside, overloaded with one of the many different types that grow on the island.
Every Jamaican has a favorite type. While some hail the sweet ‘Bombay’ as the ‘holy grail of mango’, the most common and beloved varieties are the ‘East Indian’ and ‘St. Julian’, otherwise called ‘Julie’. Add to those the ‘Black Mango’ (Blackie), ‘Number 11’, ‘Robin’, ‘Longy’, ‘Stringy’ and the ‘Common Mango’, all with their own special appeal. With some training, you can learn to identify them by their look, smell, flesh and of course, taste. Ask any islander, and you will learn of yet another variety that you can add to your growing list of mango names.
In Jamaica, mangoes grow in every parish, but St. Elizabeth, St. Mary, Clarendon and St. Thomas are known to have crops available in abundance. While St. Elizabeth is said to be the ‘land of Black Mangoes’, St. Mary produces a profusion of ‘East Indian’, St. Thomas both ‘East Indian’ and ‘St. Julian’ and Clarendon a plentiful quantity of the more common ‘Stringy’. Mangoes do not only taste good, they contain many essential vitamins and minerals. A 165 gram serving contains 25% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A, 76% of vitamin C and 9% of vitamin E. Good levels of B vitamins, particularly B6, vitamin K, amino acids, potassium and copper are also present. Even the peel and the pulp are full of antioxidant carotenoids and polyphenols as well as omega-3 and -6 fatty acids. Additionally, mangoes are used as aphrodisiacs...
Some people simply tear off the fruit’s skin with their teeth and eat the sweet flesh ‘au natural’ while others prefer a knife or a sophisticated cutter. Many extract the juice or enjoy it for dessert, often with some ice cream. More unusual ways of enjoying certain varieties of mango is to sprinkle them with salt or black pepper while they are half ripe or “turn”, or as mango chutney popularly used as a sweet condiment to accompany spicy curry dishes.
The love for mango is expressed in an old Jamaican folk song: Mi nuh drink coffee tea mango time Care how nice it may be mango time In the heat of the mango crop When di fruit dem a ripe an drop Wash your pot turn dem down mango time De terpentine large an fine, mango time Robin mango so sweet, mango time Number eleven an hairy skin Pack dibankraan ram dem in For dibankramus’ full, mango time Mekwi go a mango walk, mango time For is only di talk mango time Mekwi jump pondi big jackass Ride im dung an no tap a pass Mekdi best a di crop, mango time ENJOY!
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