This tropical fruit is high in vitamin C. Mango fruits contain 10-20 percent sugar and are important source of vitamin A. They have a rich, luscious aromatic flavor and a delicious taste in which sweetness and acidity are delicately blended.
The genus Mangifera consists of 69 species but not all bear edible fruit. The mango fruit is a large, fleshy drupe, containing an edible mesocarp of varying thickness.
The mesocarp is resinous and highly variable with respect to shape, size, color, presence of fiber and flavor.
The flavors range from turpentine to sweet. The exocarp is thick and glandular.
Fruit possess one seed enclosed in a stony endocarp, seeds may have one (monoembryonic types or multiple (polyembryonic) embryos.
Fruit shape varies, including elongate, oblong and ovate or intermediate forms involving two of these shapes.
The mango fruit is climacteric and increased ethylene production occurs during ripening.
The fruit skin may be thick, or thin, leathery, green yellow or red or a fanciful combination of these colors.
The pulp of immature fruit is hard and white to light yellow at maturity the pulp may be more or less fibrous, soft, juicy and light yellow to orange.
Mango can be eaten fresh when green half ripe or ripe. They make excellent jams, marmalades and chutneys. Mangoes cam also be pickled, frozen or canned.
Description of mango fruit
