Out of Africa: Mangoes of varied flavors, hues

Tag : Dried Mangoes

The mangoes of Africa were ready for their close-up. Amid thescores of varieties savored at last weekend's International MangoFestival at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden -- and the hundredsthat grow in Asia, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean-- Heidi, Malindi, Zebda and Nelpetite were in the spotlight.
''Mangoes came in from India to Egypt, then moved south through theAfrican continent,'' says Richard Campbell, who, as senior curatorof tropical fruit, is Fairchild's chief mango wrangler.
''We grow them,'' he says. ``One comes from Kenya -- Malindi. It isa spicy tropical mango, very Caribbean. It's flavorful, spicy, witha lot of peach in it.
``Zebda, from Egypt, is very well-adapted to South Florida. It's agreen mango -- green skin, very good, disease-resistant, no fiber.
''Nelpetite and Heidi are from South Africa. Nelpetite is a dwarfvariety with good, rich flavor. Heidi is a big, beautiful, boldmango,'' Campbell says. ``It's a dense tree, not dwarf, butsemi-dwarf.''
In our part of the world, mangoes are a slice-score-eat affair, andtwo decades ago, the Mango Gang of chefs -- Allen Susser, NormanVan Aken, Mark Militello, Douglas Rodriguez, Robbin Haas -- showedus how they can spark savory dishes.
In African countries, Campbell says, there are some pretty distinctregional differences in how mangoes are used.
``In the last 100 years, Egypt developed an industry based onjuices. They started growing them in the '30s, '40s and '50s whenit really took off. They eat a great deal of mangoes as juice. It'sstreet food in Cairo. They have mangoes stacked and put them in ablender. Mango juices on those hot nights . . .''
Early in the last century, he says, Portuguese traders broughtmangoes into central Africa.
``There the mango took on a very important role in everyday life.There are wild types grown from seeds. You find them in Kenya andsub-Saharan Africa. There were important mango industries in IvoryCoast, Cameroon and Ghana. They had a very nice and profitableindustry based on a Florida variety -- the Keitt.
``While at the University of Florida, my father [horticulturalistCarl Campbell] was working in Ghana in 1962, helping build theirindustry. It was a [U.S. Agency for International Development]project. Later, I went back to work with the World Bank to helpthem retool it. In central Africa, they eat mangoes fresh. Theylike them ripe and there's little juicing.''
Going farther south, Campbell says, the South African mangoindustry developed at the same time as that in Ghana. But it took adifferent road.
``It was very high-tech, with sophisticated breeding programs. Ittook 26 days to get South African mangoes shipped to Europeanmarkets. They created a red, red, red mango [the Heidi] that theycould send on a ship for almost a month.''
Post-apartheid South Africa found new demand for its mangoes athome, including a growing dried-mango industry. ''There's a neweconomic empowerment,'' Campbell says.
``Most of the industry is now local. South Africa has a bigpopulation, and they know how to eat mangoes.''
Nancy Ancrum writes biweekly about the culinary legacy of theAfrican diaspora .