Juicy, all-yellow mangoes lined up in shops are a tempting sight and they can be fun to have during the summer season. However, it's important to ensure that you are not buying or consuming artificially ripened mangoes. Those ripened with chemicals like ethylene gas, and calcium carbide and through heat treatment can have poor quality and nutritional content. They also don't taste as good as naturally ripened mangoes. Therefore, make sure that you employ these methods to check the quality of mangoes:
A chemical smell
Mangoes that are not naturally ripened often emit a chemical odour. Naturally ripened mangoes can have a fruity, sweet, delightful smell, sometimes with citrus undertones. Smell-testing a mango can also give you hints on mustiness, spoilage, unevenness or overripening. A good, ripe mango will have a consistent smell throughout the fruit. Familiarising yourself with the quality of the smell of the mango variety you are looking for will help you assess mangoes better before purchase. You can also smell the stem end of the mango to understand whether it's a ripe, fresh fruit.
Skin colour and texture
A healthy ripe mango can have a greenish-yellow colour. If the fruit is artificially ripened, its skin often has a uniform yellow colour. Also, if all the mangoes you picked in a batch look similar, it is an indication of carbide ripening. You can also check how firm the skin of the mango is to ascertain its quality. If the fruit's texture is firm yet slightly yielding, with no shrivelled patches, they are generally good to consume.
Seasonality
As a customer, it is important to be aware of the mango season in your region before you make an informed choice. Make sure that the mango variety you are buying is in season, so that you are sure the fruits are recently harvested, and you also have a wider selection to pick from. If they are in season, they will also be affordable, travel shorter distances to the stores and aren't sold after extended periods of storage, reducing the risk of spoilage.
