THIS IS THE MANGO SEASON

Wherever we go to see a relative, the first enquiry is about mangoes. This time the mango crop has almost failed.

In any namboodiri family, mature mangoes, ripe or unripe, are boiled in water, salted and laced with coconut oil. Or, grated coconut may be ground like chutney and added, instead of oil. This is every day, very boring after some days.

In the North, ripe mango pieces are mixed with milk and ice and ground to a thick liquid in a mixi. It is called mango juice, very tasty and popular. I don’t find it here.

Old women used to extract sweet juice of small, ripe mangoes and spread it on a mat. Every day, fresh juice is added and kept in the sun. When the season is over, the sweet layer is rolled and kept in the cupboard (in those days, there was no fridge). That was the only chocolate we used to get. K.K.Raman’s grandmother used to give us this sweet known as mangathera. Recently we brought it from a hawker in the railway station somewhere in Andhra Pradesh.

Instant pickle can be made of unripe, full grown mangoes, by cutting into chips and mixing with chilli powder and salt. I like to add coconut oil also. Alternatively, the same may be mixed with grated coconut, chilli and salt and ground into a chutny.

Some variety of mangoes can be preserved by adding plenty of salt. Or, the chips may be dried in the sun.

Kadumanga is a special preparation, using very tender mangoes of special variety of trees, which is Kerala’s own achar (pickles), a hit here. Mustard is added; hence the name. The Engish changed “manga” of Malayalam to “mango”.