A Rainbow of Mangoes

January is the height of mango season in Northeastern Brazil. With the many varieties of mangoes in this country, there is always fresh mango available, but it is now, when summer is at its peak, that most mango trees bear fruit. During a drive last week to the small coastal resort of Canoa Quebrada, I passed thousands of road-side mango trees, almost all of them heavy with fruit. With such an abundance, it is no wonder that mangoes are currently selling for pennies a pound in local markets.

Living in North America, I was used to a very limited choice in varieties of mangoes. There were the large roundish red/green mangoes that usually came from Mexico or Hawaii. And there were the yellow, kidney-shaped ones called Manila, though I'm not sure if they actually came from the Philippines or not.

But here in Brazil, the variety of mangoes is astounding. On the website Toda Fruta there are photos of the most common Brazilian mango varieties. Here is a photo sampling from that site to show the spectrum of Brazilian mangoes. Each variety is labeled in the photo.

(Click any picture to enlarge)