It Must Have Been A Mango!

[Guest guest]

>From Hana Hou Magazine (July Issue):It Must Have Been A Mango! Because what else could have been so delicious as to cause Adam to disobey God?The poet Hart Crane, who was convinced that the mango was indeed the apple of Eden, rhapsodized in The Mango Tree about the fruit "first plucked before the flood...sun heap whose ripe lanterns gush history." Slurping into a ripe mango has been compared, favorably, with sex, and mango leaves are arranged as part of the symbolism at Hindu weddings to ensure the birth of many babies. Known as "The apple of the Tropics," the delectable mango was relished by Alexander the Great on his march through India.Mangos cannot travel on their own; the seed is too large and heavy to float or fly. They must be disseminated by people, and the routes of ancient migrations can be traced by the spread of mangos. They originated around Burma and the Bay of Bengal, and go back at least 4,000 years in India. By 500 BC, Buddhist monks carried mangos along with their begging bowls on their travels. The Buddha himself is said to have found repose and tranquillity in a mango grove, not to mention a quick, vitamin-packed breakfast.Transported by Persian traders, mango trees grew in Africa by the 16th Century. By the 1700s, they had reached Brazil, and in 1860 they were introduced to Florida. The fruit is rich in vitamins C and A, but while all parts of the tree have been used medicinally, the leaves and skin of the fruit are actually toxic. The mango is a close relative of the cashew and pistachio, as well as poison ivy and poison oak, and for people who are sensitive to it, the tree's milky sap can cause the heavy rash sometimes know as "mango mouth."At present, 20 million metric tons of mangos are grown throughout the tropical world, and more mangos are eaten fresh than any other fruit on earth. Mangos are frozen for pies and cakes, and dried as candy. There are mango shampoos, lotions and soaps, and mangos have been known to inspire jewelry designs, Spanish fashions, record labels, Web sites, 'ukuleles and restaurants - to name just a few spin-offs. Favorite local recipes include mango chutney, mango ice cream, mango bread and mango jam.Mangos were first brought to [the Hawaiian Islands] in the early 1800s. Many of the Asian immigrants who came to Hawai'i to work in the cane fields planted mangos around their homes, and a mango tree in the middle of nowhere is a sure sign that someone once lived there. In Lahaina at the beginning of summer, mangos perfume the air with their sweet, sensual scent. In Ka'u on the Big Island, an annual Mango Festival is held each July to celebrate a grove of seventy-year-old trees in the old sugar plantation camp at Pahala.The fruit itself is gorgeous: succulent, juicy, glowing yellow-orange, a sun in the hand and paradise in the mouth. Gauguin immortalized mangos, artfully arrayed around his mythic Tahitian beauties. An archaic Indian textile design presents the mango leaf as a symbol of creation, and well it might -for if who people share a basketful of mangos together, they just might find themselves raising a bunch of kids.Mangos are messy and should not be attempted without foresight and planning. A towel is handy, but ideally they should be sampled while reclining next to a mountain waterfall or a bubbling stream to wash in afterward. Should you be so blest, the best way to eat a fresh picked mango is to immediately sit down under the tree, which spreads its mantle of dark green leaves above you, shielding you from the hot sun. There, ensconced like a raja of India -or Adam himself- you peel back the golden skin and slurp the nectar of the gods.by Joana Varawa