To us, the most exciting part of Indian summer is the mango season…and it’s here! Take a look at this to see which mango varieties arrive when and add them to your calendar!
How are these delicious fruits grown?
If you were lucky enough to have a mango tree in your garden growing up, you’ll know how the tree bursts into yellow blooms. These bear small, kaccha fruit that slowly grows and ripens until you shake the tree one day and has them shower down.
Well, growing mangoes agriculturally is very different.
Mango trees are perennials. Plant them once and they yield fruits for 40-50 years. In orchards, the trees are planted 27-30 feet apart to accommodate the large canopies.
When they are 6-7 years old, mango trees begin to flower. Lakhs of flowers bloom on every tree, of which only a few thousand bear fruits. A tree in its prime yields 500-2000 fruits. Some high-yielding varieties give up to 4000 mangoes each season!
DID YOU KNOW?
Mango trees believe in self-care.
They do this through a behaviour called alternate bearing. During ‘on’ years, they give fantastic yields, bearing thousands of fruit. The next year is an ‘off’ year where they give themselves to rest and invest in growing shoots and leaves. So the fruit yield will be low.
Mangoes take 3-4 months to go from flowers to harvest-ready fruits. Our partner farms harvest these fruits individually, cutting the 1-2 cm long pedicle (stem) and collecting them in baskets. Sometimes, hydraulic platforms are used to reach tall trees.
Then, it’s time for desapping. Bigbasketeer, if you’ve ever plucked a mango off a tree, you’ll notice that some sap seeps out of the stem. This sap is acidic and can damage the skin of the fruit. To remove this sap, all harvested mangoes are rested on a wooden platform with holes with the ‘beak’ facing up and the stem down. In about 45 minutes, the sap drips out completely and the mangoes can be sent for ripening.
All our mangoes are carbide-free
All our mangoes are safely ripened without the use of harmful chemicals like carbides, thus preserving their taste, aroma, juices and nutrition.
This behaviour is seen at an orchard level and happens irrespective of the weather and growing conditions. Isn’t that amazing?
Mouth watering yet?
Good information. I will also like to mention Kesar Mangoes from Gir-Gujarat, which starts from May