Mangoes, mangers and manguhs

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No matter what you call them, we all call them delicious! I don't think there is any other fruit that can take the coveted sweetest fruit prize. Mangoes have been hybridised to create a plethora of colours, sizes and sweetness each with their own distinct characteristics. Yet my favourite of all time remains the humble and hairy sweet all the way to the bone mangolong. Best eaten straight out o fhand, many a Bajan has spent over five minutes just sucking the seed...they are that sweet!
Mangolongs tends to have a greyish tint

 Sweet to the seed.

 One of the more commonplace mangoes, the julie, is also long and slender but cannot compare in terms of sweetness. They tend to have more a more watery content and are almost pointed at one end.
Julie
While I am a fan of the mangolong, the mango of choice in the house is the pahwee. Now is a good time to state that these may not be the accurate names for these mangoes. We Bajans have a serious habit of renaming things. This is actually the Pierre Louis but my guess is, not being French speakers, we couldn't be bothered with all that so we shortened it to pahwee. Almost (lol) as sweet as the mangolong, the pahwee is firm, biteable and small.A good choice for slicing.
Pierre Luois
                              While the mangolong is indeed long, the pahwee is small and circular.
Yet there are even smaller ones. I find these so ridiculous, they are one biters (LOL), literally big enough (or small enough) to be consumed in a bite!

 Now to the big boys. 
As a little girl, I have fond memories of travelling to Haggats St. Andrew with the father to buy fruit trees.  Today two of those mango trees still stand on the land. I call them the big boys. 





I love to photograph manogoes on the tree. They remind me of earrings the way they hang and sway from their slender stems as if near breaking point.
These were grafted I believe to be used as cooking mangoes. Firm, sweet and HUGE, I cannot finish one on my own to this day.
It happens to be mango season as I write and I have been indulging unapologetically. My fruit baskets bear testament to this family's love of the mango.
Bowl of pahwees



















Two big boys and some mangolongs


















By the way, what's your favourite mango?



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