For the first time in my life, the past two months, I've had unlimited all-I-can-eat access to free mangoes. How many mangoes is that? A lot. I haven't counted, but I'm sure my average consumption is upward of one mango per day. It's been a definite highlight of my transition to Preah Vihear. I'm not alone in my enjoyment: we've given away boxes and bags full, let visitors pick all they want, offered mango smoothies to every dinner guest, and left maybe 1000 to rot on the ground. And the season's not over yet!
My hosts, Jim and Carolyn, laugh at me. They say my obsessive enthusiastic mango collection efforts mark me as a newbie. And they're partly right. I've wasted a lot of time gathering and cutting into goners. But I'm learning along the way: how to use the best collection techniques, which unpromising specimens are worth a second look, and how many mangoes I'm able to eat before tiring of them. (Not enough yet!)
In Phnom Penh, I ate plenty of mangoes too, but most of them I had to pay for, and I was only vaguely aware of the growing process. The only house I rented with mango trees was all sour mangoes which were less appealing to me, and the landlords never invited my housemates and me to help ourselves. I haven't had free access to fruit since my childhood in Vermont, when my family went to pick raspberries and blackberries down the road every summer. So I've enjoyed investigating one of my favorite-ever foods.
I've observed four basic techniques for harvesting mangoes:
1. The Easter Egg Hunt. By far the easiest method, and how perfect is it that mango season and Easter occur so close together? But it's frowned upon by many Cambodians because the fallen ones are often overripe and/or full of worms. Not always, though! I found many that were only half-filled with worms (hey, if one side is still good, why not?) and some that were unscathed.
I hesitated to pick up this yellow mango, but it was in perfect condition |
This technique works especially well after a storm. It's literally a windfall, where pristine mangoes are torn from their branches and whipped to the ground with terrific force. If they're still firm enough, they won't even be bruised. But these days, when I hear mangoes falling, there are so many already on the ground that it's hard to spot the latest arrivals.
The Plas Prai dorm students are master mango pickers. They harvested probably 200 good ones from our yard in about 15 minutes in late March. I need to get them to come back soon for a repeat performance, since they have 40+ mouths and almost no mango trees on their property. Our landlords and other visitors, including the roofing crew shown below, also picked some mangoes to take home from the two "Chinese" mango trees out front.
Plas Prai dorm students and I made mango bread with mangoes picked by their classmates |
My plan to bring mango bread to Plas Prai's Khmer New Year party spurred on my scavenging through early April |
Easter dessert: mango coconut custard adorned with a fresh-picked mango (see picking video above in #2) |
Preah Vihear has a limited selection of groceries, but it's amazing to me to find mangoes in such abundance. Picking them, especially off the ground, reminds me of the Israelites in the wilderness. They went out each morning to gather manna that they hadn't worked for, didn't understand, and mostly took for granted. To an unappreciative bunch of whiners, day by day, God gave a life-sustaining gift.
I don't know if I'll be quite this diligent every year to gather, slice, freeze, and cook with mangoes. But I'm committed to spend time each year enjoying them and helping others enjoy them. They are still my favorite part of hot season and a source of joy to this highly experienced whiner. Mangoes, like manna, are a relentless gift.
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