Philippine Mangos!

Some of you are probably familiar with Philippine Brand dried mangos, available at Costco. They are very good, like candy...I just wish they'd leave off the sugar coating - because they don't need it. They are very sweet on their own.

The fresh Philippine mangos available on every street corner or in the open-air market are even more delicious, and unlike a dried mango, the fresh ones are sweeter and so juicy they are dripping when you cut them open. I eat at least one of these mangos a day, and on most days I'll eat two (usually as a desert after a meal). They are so good I can't really do justice to them in words. They are tree ripened and then eaten within a day or two of being picked. There is no way to reproduce that kind of freshness back in the USA. 

Also, these small, potato-sized, yellow mangos are NOT the same variety that is common in the USA. Most mangos in USA are a larger pink to greenish yellow variety from Central America....sorry, Philippine mangos are far superior. It's not even a close contest.  The Philippine Brand, Co. can't grow them fast enough.

The best way to eat a Philippine mango is to first cut it longitudinally, parallel to the natural seam in the skin (kind of like a peach). Cutting to just miss the pit cleaves off two halves of the most fleshy portions of the fruit. Serve on a plate and scoop out the mango with a spoon. Peel the skin off the center with the pit and eat the fruit around the edges. I've eaten three at one sitting...(if more were put in front of me I'd have kept going).