Move over Alphonso and Banganapalli. What’s trending these days is the Bombay Green mango, aptly named so for its skin colour.
It was about three summers ago (Summer is here) that I had my first taste of this aam at a bageecha in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh. As we were driving into the hill station, we had them fresh from farmers selling the just-harvested crop from cane tokris right from their orchards.
The outside green made us wonder if it was still raw. But when cut into, it was like waking up to a whole new world.
The outer colour did have us fooled. The greenish cover made way for the most unusual and sweetest bright orange fruit housed inside it.
I had been yearning to bite into another Bombay Green since then, and what a surprise I was in for when my friend offered it to me at her home in Nagpur a few days back!
As I happily sliced and bit into this tabletop variety of the fruit, my palate was engulfed by the full-bodied, unique taste that is hard to categorize-it’s got the right hint of sweetness, not too much, just pleasurably right. Needless to say, I couldn’t stop at one.
Mangoes are the world’s most popular fruit and while Alphonso deserves the tag of the ‘King of Mangoes’, but Bombay Green as my friend tells me is not far behind and is referred to as the ‘Prince of Mangoes’.
An added advantage is that this exotic and premium variety is grown 100 per cent organically, without any carbide or other chemicals exclusively in the orchards of the Satpura range in Pachmarhi.
This variety of fruit has a niche market. It ripens and is ready-to-eat by the end of May, but is grown in limited quantities and sells out fast. It hardly ever reaches the open market. Even as film stars and other VIPs bulk order them, the other aficionados make special trips to this hill station to buy directly from the orchards.
So, it is indeed a pleasant ‘bolt from the blue’ that this variant of the summer’s favourite fruit is available in Nagpur this season.
The erratic weather pattern has impacted the mango production across the country this year and the yield is 40 per cent less than normal this summer.
Bombay Green stands out for me as the best premium quality available right now compared to the regular dump of mangoes flooding the mandis from UP.
What gets the cake, err, the mango is that it can be ordered in Nagpur now and delivered at home. Call on 98483 19195, 98230 25895, 80879 47296 to get your own box.
| Not that eating a mango needs any reasons, but associated health benefits does make it guilt-free.
· Mango is rich in vitamin E and A which is needed for healthy eyes. · It contains special digestive enzymes like terpenes, aldehydes and esters that help in breaking down food, leading to good digestion. · Keep the skin soft and shining and brings a glow to the face. It helps in opening clogged pores of the skin and treats acne. · It is a rich source of Vitamin H and Vitamin A- contains over 25 varieties of carotenoids. All these strengthen the immune system. · It can decrease the risk of getting cancer. It contains high amounts of antioxidants or phenols such as quercetin, fisetin, astragalin, gallic acid, methyl gallate and enzymes. Also, the presence of Vitamin C protects cells from radical damage. · Mango is a good source of soluble dietary fibre, vitamin C and pectin that helps reduce cholesterol levels and low-density lipoprotein levels that cause a heart attack. It also has vitamin-B6 that lowers homocysteine levels, preventing any development of heart disease. · It contains Glutamine acid that keeps the cells active and boosts memory. · Raw or unripe mangoes are a rich source of pectin which prevents heat strokes. |
-Tamanna S. Mehdi
Here and There