Leave your mangoes at room temperature and out of the sun until ripe. Once they’re ripe you can refrigerate them to extend their shelf life. Don’t put them in the fridge before they’re ripe! It will disrupt the natural ripening process resulting in less flavour and possibly rotten fruit!
The best way to tell is by smelling the mango at the stem end. Bowen Special mangoes will give off a strong sweet, mango aroma when they’re ready to eat. A ripening mango will also begin to soften and turn yellow however don’t be too concerned with these indicators: let your nose be your guide!
They’re still ripening! Mangoes are picked when they’re mature but not ripe. A mature mango has light yellow flesh but is still hard and green on the outside. Eventually the yellow colour will begin to show itself on the skin and the fruit will begin to soften indicating your mango is ripening. Remember, the scent is the best indicator of ripeness, smell the stem end of the mango: a ripe mango can still have some green skin!
No! Most skin marks will not affect the quality of the flesh. Mango trees are grown outside with no shade so they’re exposed to insects, rain, wind and sun. This means they can get superficial marks from bites, scratches or sunburn. Most of the time, this only affects the skin the mango flesh itself is still delicious, healthy and free of defects. We also use very few chemicals on our orchards so our fruit might have a few more insect bites! If a mango does have flesh damage our quality controllers are trained to detect the defect and will ensure it doesn’t end up in your tray!
In Australia, the gold standard for flavour is the Bowen Special Mango also known as the Kensington Pride. It is the undisputed champion for Australia’s best tasting mango.
Only Bowen Special Mangoes (Kensington Pride)
There’s more than one reason. Firstly, these mangoes have come straight from the farm to you! This means there was very little cold storage time. Most of our fruit is only held on farm for 3 to 4 days before its sent out and we keep our coldrooms at higher temperatures so that the natural ripening process isn’t disrupted. Secondly, your mangoes have not been artificially ripened. The natural ripening process results in a mango with superior flavour. Most mangoes you’ll see in a shop are gassed with ethylene to speed up the ripening process. Finally, these are Bowen Special Mangoes: grocery stores sell a lot of other mango varieties. Make sure you always buy Bowen Specials (Kensington Prides) if you want the best chance of a good mango.
