"An EU-wide ban on mangoes from India has come into force, halting imports into the UK potentially until December 2015. The ban also includes aubergines, two types of squash, and a type of leaf used in Indian cooking. Shipments of mangoes were suspended into Europe after consignments were found to be infested with fruit flies. The UK imports around £6.3m worth of Indian mangoes per year out of a UK mango market worth £68m in total. Non-European food pests were found in 207 shipments of fruit and vegetables in 2013." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27238239
We have been buying some from our local Asian store. They are from Mexico and they are absolutely wonderful to eat. Trouble is they are £8.00 a box of 6 and they are no bigger, really, than a tennis ball. Fantastic texture and flavour.
Our local store tries to keep a supply coming in of sweet honey type mangos, each week. So far we have had the Mexican variety, some from the Dominican republic and this week from Pakistan. The ones for the Dominican republic were a bit stringy and not so tasty but the Mexican and Pakistan ones are great. Creeping up to £9 a box now though.
There's a glut of mangoes on Mindanao right now and they're 15 pesos a kilo in the local market for yellow and 20 for the green ones.
I am sure many of us have wondered why Philippine mangoes are not imported into the E.U. Either there is a technical issue with voyage length and ripening control, or there is a pest issue. Does anybody know?
I was chomping my way through a fresh pineapple the other day. It was from the Dominican Republic. It cost a pound. And I wondered about honey mangos. I bought 2 honey mangos today in M and S. its hard to find honey mangos here. They were from Thailand, they had some the other week from Peru. I wouldnt have called them large. And they were £2.50 each. Although I really like honey mangos, one wonders why they are 2.5 times the price of a whole fresh pineapple? Like you suggest, there may be technicalities over ripening and shipment time.
Years ago I met a chap on the flight back home from the Dominican Republic, he was a banana tester . It is actually quite high tech how they transport the produce from one country to another. As you said its all about getting the fruit to ripen just as you are arriving in the UK, on talking to this chap he told me that bananas are moved around different area of the cargo vessel where they are exposed to different temperatures and humidity's to hold them off ripening, I think light comes into play too. We discuss some things here don't we
Indeed. But it sheds some light on possibly why honey mangos are difficult to come by here and why they are expensive.
We've got mango float in the fridge. Upon tasting for the first time I thought to myself, there must be max of 8 items in PI to make dessert and they just jumble them in a different order when preparing and call it something different upon completion. I really didn't like it.
Well, coincidentally my wife bought a box of 6 honey mangos for £7.50 today. Again from the Dominican Republic. Thats better than £2.50 each from M and S.
I guess it can be made in different ways. The mother in laws mango float was very good. But then she is a full time cook for a wealthy Filipino family. I think she used honey mangos, graham crackers and carnation. Not much else was added. Tell you what though, I disliked the halo halo ( the sweet that is ).
Yep same ingredients but the Carnation didn't do it for me. Think the most enjoyable dessert I've had here was leche flan.
