Mangoes...big ones...small ones...some as big as your head!

It is Mango season in my side of Mali. Although the mango tree in my concession is not ready for the picking many other trees have been for weeks now. Just the other day I went to a village about 21km away and the five massive mango trees around the shea grinding mill have already been picked clean with no trace of a mango left; even on the highest branches, none. The women and children walk to the trees with incredibly long sticks to poke at the fruit to fall down and the ones that a stick, throw of a mango or stone will not knock down are sought after by those able to climb the tree.
I am amazed at the choices I have when choosing a mango. The size, taste, and texture can be so different from one mango to another. My favorite are the big juicy mangoes that are easy to cut and eat, some mangoes are so fibrous they are difficult to eat and you have to floss every time after. Drying mangoes has also been great although difficult to store, only because after the two to three days it takes for them to dry I would rather eat the mango slices then store them to eat later.

small mangoes

No doubt those wagons are filled with mangoes : )

"Oh Mija, it's amazing!!!" I believe those were the words spoken by my mom when I showed her one of the mangoes I bought today via skype. Yes, indeed they are quite amazing and that was just the medium sized one. I'll have to take a picture of each size. I still have not tasted the massive ones, maybe I'll buy one tomorrow and split it with someone. Also recently the zaba fruit is back on the market. The zaba is quite spectacular, it tastes like a sour patch kid, you open up the fruit and there are a bunch of seeds with pulp wrapped around. So sour and sweet, who needs candy. My tastes continually change here as well as cravings. In the states I always chose the non-chocolate type candies i.e. skittles, sour patch kids, war heads, starburst, lollipops, etc. But now all I crave is chocolate.
But, anyway back to mangoes. I've got to eat at least two a day, morning and evening. The flies will not let you enjoy the mango midday so I usually will not bother eating one. Damn fruitflies!

on the road to buying fresh produce



The Mangoes I have to dodge
on the way in and out of my house