To All,
Despite the criticisms hurled at Market Basket by a couple of you, I continue to go there for fruit, and each time I bushwhack through the produce section and scan the aisles to search for hitherto untasted fruit. A couple of weeks ago I bought a mango. I let it sit on my kitchen window sill to let it ripen.
I decided that today was the day. Not knowing how to prepare a mango, I watched two videos on how to cut up a mango, including https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbWsCISLDho. (This video has a pointer to another video that shows how to tell if a mango is ripe. My first discovery was that even after two weeks in the window, my mango was not ripe. The main tip is to buy mangoes that are yellow and red, not green. Mine has splotches of red but was mainly green.) I ended up cutting off the two sides, cutting each side lengthwise into slices, and slicing off the skin. This was fast and easy. (I did not do so well when I tried the scoring technique.)
I had previously had mango in salsa, and perhaps in fruit salad, but I had never had pure mango, so I was ready for a new taste treat. I was disappointed. I blame the disappointment on the unripeness of the fruit. It was hard, tasteless, and not sweet at all. The first lesson is the importance of ripeness. The second lesson is that my kitchen window sill is not the sure path to ripeness. The third lesson is that the Internet is crammed with useful tips.
Several of you blamed my unhappiness with the uniq (the first fruit covered in this series) to be due to its unripeness. I reject that line of argument and contend that the uniq is just not that good. For the mango, however, I think that not being ripe was the cause of my dissatisfaction. I need to use my new-found knowledge to pick a ripe mango and try again.
When the Fruit Explorer stubs his toe, the proper response it to let out a curse and then get revenge on the offending fruit by making another attempt to eat it. I noticed that Stop &Shop had mangoes on sale for a buck apiece; this presented a perfect opportunity for me to get my revenge. I went to Stop&Shop and sifted through a mountain of mangoes, but not a one was anywhere near ripe. I despair of finding a ripe mango. Revenge deferred.
r
P.S. Please let me know if you would like to be removed from the Fruit Explorer's mailing list.
