Your Short & Sweet Guide to Picking the BEST Mangoes 🥭

🥭 Here's everything you need to know about picking the best mangoes! 🥭

Let’s start with choosing the best variety!

When shopping for red mangoes in the U.S., the main varieties you'll find are Kent, Keitt, and Tommy. Of these three, I always recommend Kent mangoes.

Why? Well, compared to Keitt and Tommy mangoes, Kent mangoes are typically larger, sweeter, less fibrous, and easier to cut (which is important for making spreads). In my experience, Kent mangoes ripen more gracefully than the other varieties once picked from the tree, meaning you’re less likely to have one rot on you.

Keitt mangoes are very tasty as well, but they're more fibrous and tend to go bad quickly. I’ll still buy them quite frequently, but I don’t use them in my fruit spreads as often.

When it comes to yellow varieties, Champagne and Atauflo mangoes are delicious as well.

Alrighty, now that we’ve covered varieties, let’s go over what to look for ad what to avoid when picking specific mangoes in the store:

Look for:

✅ Color: Deep red or orange for Kent, Keitt, and Tommy varieties and deep gold for the Champagne or Atauflo varieties.

✅ Feel: You want smooth skin with little blemishes and some give (but not too squishy).

✅ Smell: A strong fruity smell means more flavor!

✅ Sap coming from the top of the mango (this indicates a higher sugar content!)

Avoid:

❌ Dark spots: Dark spots occur when mangoes have been stored in the cold, where condensation builds up on them and then freezes. Mangoes hate the cold.

❌ Lack of color or vibrancy, a “dull” appearance.

❌ Mangoes that are very squishy and bruised, especially near the top.

❌ Mangoes that are green and rock hard. They're not ripe yet.

I hope this was helpful. Good luck picking out the best mangoes for your smoothies, salads, and snacks.

Lots of love,

Cocogirljen 💜