Dried Mango - A Journey from the Orchard to the Cupboard
Updated: Jul 6, 2022
The mango season is in full swing in the Ivory Coast. Our farmers are very busy making sure we get the best mangoes.
To celebrate them, we thought we’d share with you the journey of your favourite dried mango, from the orchards to the cupboard.
Mango from Côte d’Ivoire
Have you ever wondered where mangoes come from?
Firstly, you should know that there are many varieties of mango in the world.
Their colours, size, and flavours vary depending on the climate, the soil, and other factors.
In the Ivory Coast (West Africa), for example, the sweet and juicy tropical stone fruit grows in the northern part of the country and the season only lasts 3 months - from April to June.
There are two different varieties - Amelia and Kent.
The Amelia variety is not as popular as the latter, so its production has been almost completely replaced by the Kent one.
The Kent mango has an oval shape. The pulp is deliciously sweet, soft, and has a lovely orange colour.
The skin remains green, even when ripe and ready to eat, and has a beautiful red blush. Also, it’s not as thick as the Kent mango from other countries, due to the climatic conditions.
Their appearance is also not as shiny as other mangoes, and that’s simply because most farmers in the Ivory Coast do not add layers of wax to their mangoes.
At the Orchards
Back in 2018, Franck and I had the privilege to visit a mango orchard for the first time.
Our farmers gave us much insight into how they grow and harvest their organic mangoes without the use of any chemicals.
The first thing I noticed when we arrived was the short pieces of fabric attached to some branches.
Some were red, some yellow and other green. I curiously asked what their purpose was.
The farmer explained that trees do not produce their flowers all at the same time. As a result, their fruits also develop in different phases.
So, when the flowering season starts, they attach the red flag to branches with the first flowers; they then use the yellow ones for those that flower next and, finally the green flag, for the last ones to blossom.
After attaching those coloured flags, they make a note of the dates the branches started flowering.
This method helps them keep track of the maturity of the fruits and estimate the harvesting time.
So when the time comes, it is easier for them to identify the mangoes that have reached the right maturity and those that are still too green to harvest.
Of course, time is not the only factor taken into account to assess the maturity of the fruit.
They also look for other signs in the external appearance of the fruit, ie: they make sure the pedicle of the fruit drops inside; they check that the white spots on the skin (also known as lenticels) have turned brown and, finally, they make sure that the hanging point of the fruit is dry - which is a sign that the mango is no longer feeding from the mother plant.
After going through the checklist, they take a sample and cut it open. They then use a mango size chart and a colour chart to examine the internal colour of the pulp and, with the help of a refractometer, they check the Brix (the sugar content of the fruit).
The higher the Brix, the sweeter the fruit.
Another fascinating fact is that the level of maturity the mango needs to reach for harvesting, also very much depends on the market the farmers are serving.
For example, the mango used to make juice needs a higher level of maturity than the one used to make dried mango.
The transformation
After picking the fruit, the mango is carefully plucked and placed in plastic crates.
The crates are then transferred to the packing house and carefully washed to eliminate all impurities and sorted.