It’s Mango Season!

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Mangoes do very well in Panama, and many of the trees are huge and very old. Not only are they beautiful trees, they give wonderful fruit. I always look forward to mango season! There are many types, some earlier, some later, some bigger, smaller, different flavors and colors, but they are all so good. One side benefit of biking around is finding various spots good for picking up mangoes.

This is one tree right by the road that has been dropping lots of mangoes. They are yellow and small, but have a wonderful flavor and texture so I’ve picked up a lot of them.
Right in front of that mango tree is a cashew tree. You can see some of the red fruits. I also like these and take them home when I find them.
If you want more mangoes, look at what is going on just a few yards from the first mango tree.
This is a very large tree and it has tons of mangoes. They are also yellow, sweet, but a bit softer inside, maybe because of the distance they have to fall but they are also very good.

The Marañón or cashew apples are very interesting and I have written about them before. They are soft and delicate so they don’t travel well or make it to stores. You have to find a tree. To me, the smell and taste is very unusual but I have come to really like it. It’s hard to describe, maybe something like an exotic, musty pear?

But, we are supposed to be talking about mangoes, so on to my other favorite spot.

This is a huge and very beautiful tree! It lost a limb during the dry and windy season, but there is still plenty of it left to make mangoes.
I stopped by with Cedo one day to see if there were any good ones on the ground. This year they seems to be ripening more in the tree so if you don’t get them right away they are too soft and broken, and partly eaten because everything here loves mangoes.
Just look at these beauties in the tree! These are some of the biggest and most colorful mangoes I have found, and they also have a great flavor and texture.

Last year I ate a lot of the big colorful mangoes and tossed the pits in the compost pile. This year I have two small trees! Maybe in time they will start producing mangoes in this yard.

Mangoes here are kind of like citrus in Florida. When the fruit is in season it’s everywhere, almost to the point of becoming a nuisance if you have lots of fruit dropping in your yard. But it’s fun for me to find mangoes, and I always keep bags on my bike just for lucky finds like these. I already have two gallon size freezer bags full of frozen mangoes though, so I’d better not bring home more than I can eat!

About Kris Cunningham

We live in David, Chiriqui Provence, Republic of Panama! This blog is about some of our experiences in our new country.
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6 Responses to It’s Mango Season!

  1. belikewaterproduction says:
    April 27, 2015 at 6:04 pm

    Yes, I really love mangoes

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  2. schuttzie says:
    April 28, 2015 at 6:02 am

    Those trees are huge! I love mangoes too and was able to pick them from a tree in the backyard of a place we stayed in Puerto Rico 🙂 YUM!

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  3. mcmoller says:
    April 28, 2015 at 9:55 am

    I can relate to mangos almost being a nuisance. Every morning now I collect at least 2 dozen mangos from my one mango tree. I have cut up and frozen about 150 cups and probably given away about 15 dozen mangos to friends and neighbors, although they could probably get them from many other trees in the pueblo. And the mangos keep on coming. But they are “muy rico” and juicy-always have been my favorite fruit. And they are free! This one tree supplies us with enough mangos for the whole year, so I am happy with the temporary “nuisance”.

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