Mango Diary 3

Name: Large Tai Nong Mango
Origin: China
Size: 9 x 6 x 5 cm
Weight: 171g

A simple yellow fruit. Despite its name, it is smallish in size, and with a smooth but thin skin that bruises easily. It is a bright and vivid egg-yellow inside, and quite fibrous throughout. There is plenty of juice when it is cut, which makes it a messy pudding. The smell is syrupy and strong.

On first taste it is immediately recognizable as being the central ingredient of the favorite dish from the dim-sum trolley: the mango pudding. Either all kitchens use this particular variety (it is cheap) or they re-create its flavor through a clever combination of other fruit. It is lively, filled with sugar and rich – almost a parody of a mango. That said, there is nothing subtle here, and very little acidity to balance the sweetness. Its easy to have enough, but it would work well with plain yogurt.

With a small stone weighing only 14g, and the thin skin taking the total to 54g, this has a healthy overall fruit ratio for its size of 68:32 – another reason why they are so popular with the caterers?
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L. Shepherd