Summer bring with it the extremely sought after summer delight, mango fruit. It ranks as number one on the list of most popular fruits. Delicious and wonderful taste of mango is hard to resist making it the king of all fruits. During every summer, this seasonal sweet, juicy, and nourishing fruit is a part of our family gatherings, social culture and even political diplomacy.
In Southeast Asia, mango trees nurtured for over 4000 years. The fruit has travelled long way from Southeast Asia to reach in Middle East and Africa, from there to Brazil and West Indies and then to America during 19 century. Famous poet Ghalib had great passion and love for mangoes. He once said, "mangoes should be sweet and in plenty". From centuries, mango blossoms are part of Eastern poetry. Amir Khusro, renowned poet and musician of 13th century, used mango trees in his verses for the expressions of love, affection and friendliness.
"The yellow mustard is blooming in every field, Mango buds are clicking open, other flowers too; The koyal chirps from branch to branch,"(translation). Mango fruit also known as "Fruit of Kings", because it was the first choice of Mughal emperors of India, they were great admirers of mangoes. They introduced many varieties of tasty mangoes to the people of India. Akbar mentioned sweet flavours of mangoes in his biography "Ain-e-Akbari". According to Babur, mango was the best fruit of India. Akbar planted an orchard of one-lakh trees in Bihar. Shah Jahan had posted soldiers specially to guard his favorite mango trees in the Deccan. The emperors and nobles of those days sent gifts of best mangoes from their gardens to each other.
The evergreen tree of mango is a symbol of love and popular for granting wishes. Natives of India remember it as the messenger of spring and fragrance. The young tree started yielding mangoes after four to six years of planting. From centuries every part of mango tree has been used for the treatment of various ailment. In folk medicine, unripe mangoes use for the treatment of gastro intestinal disorder.
Both raw and ripe form of mango is nutritionally rich with unique flavour, fragrance, taste, and health promoting qualities. Sour and sharp tasted raw mangoes are excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin B. Unripe mangoes have sharp and sour taste and from centuries, women use them for making different types of pickles and chutneys.
Both ripe and unripe forms are best for making heat relieving refreshing summer drinks. An ideal drink to get rid of dehydration is to grate the raw mango and cook it with water and jiggery. Then add cumin seeds, black pepper, and aniseeds, then add rock salt, strain the pulp and an exotic summer drink is ready to drink.
Dried raw mango powder or amchoor uses as spice, as meat tenderizer and as alternative of lemon. It gives curries, pickles, lenticels a unique tangy taste. For making amchoor, cut the green unripe mangoes and dry the strips in sunlight. Mill the completely dried stripes in grinder to make fine powder. For long lasting freshness, the powder should store in airtight jar in refrigerator. Mango panna is another popular summer refreshing drink, which made from roasting unripe mango on fire. Roasting can do on grill in the oven. Now remove the pulp and separate the peals and the seed, mash it well. Now add water, sugar, few mint leaves and pinch of salt to make exotic drink.
The fruit is highly admired all around the world. People have different ways of enjoying its unique taste. In Sindh, people enjoy it with rice. In Punjab, mango flesh added in lassi to make ideal desi summer drink. In Indian Gujarat, its pulp mixes with wheat flour to make puran puri. In UK, pulp uses for making of ice cream and jelly.
The pleasant, rich sweet flavour of mango is main ingredient of many deserts such as custard, puddings, and fruit salad. Blend mango flesh with milk to make mango milk shake or simply mix it with water to make ideal summer drinks.
To neutralize the heat inside the fruit, people consume it after keeping them in refrigerator for few hours or dipping it in cold-water bucket. Over thousands of varieties of mangoes are growing alaround the world and new varieties are making their ways in markets.
There are 450 known varieties of mangoes in Pakistan. Most popular in Pakistan are, "Sindhri" which originates from Mir pur Khas, best for making milk shakes and smoothies because of its non-fibrous pulp and Sweet delight "Chausa" from Multan and Rahim yar Khan. Other famous mango varieties are Anwar ratol, Tota Pari , Neelm etc.
Fresh mango is nature's treasure of vitamins, minerals, fibers and poly-phenolic flavonoid antioxidant compounds. It helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. The fruit protects against leukemia colon, breast and prostate cancers. One cup of sliced mangoes supplies about 25 percent of the needed daily value of vitamin A, which promotes good eyesight. Eating mangoes regularly prevents night blindness, refractive errors, and dryness of the eyes, softening of the cornea, itching and burning in the eyes. Mangoes contain digestive enzymes that help break down proteins and aid digestion. It is also valuable to combat acidity and poor digestion.
Good news for young girls is that mango is also beneficial for healthy skin and helps in prevention of acne. Eating mango regularly makes the complexion fair and the skin soft and shining. For getting rid of acne remove the mango pulp and apply it on your skin for about 10 minutes before washing it.
Mangoes are beneficial for pregnant women and individuals suffering from anemia because of their iron content. Mangoes can be beneficial for people wanting to gain weight. A 100 gram of mango contains about 75 calories. Also, raw mangoes contain starch which get converted into sugar as the fruit ripens.
Mango juice improves memory, concentration and prevents mental weakness and it is good for school going children. Due to the high amounts of fiber found in mango, it helps to combat acidity and prevent constipation. Nutritionist regard mango as a comfort food because its eating gives satisfaction and soothing pleasure to its eater.