I recently moved in with my two best friends and was helping one of them move, using a van. On our way to our wonderful new flat, we drove through Southall, London. To those of you who don't know, driving through Southall is like traveling to a different country...
From the moment you drive past Southall Park, everything starts to change. Clothes, music, the smell of foods and spices, signposts, advertisements… You have suddenly been transported to Southeast Asia, a country that would exist if people in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and places I’m sure I don’t know of, were to decide to live together in one neighbourhood. It is a truly wonderful cornucopia of scents and tastes, but that day I discovered mango season.
Apparently, it is mango season in Pakistan at the moment, and that is the home of the Honey Mango, the sweetest mango out there. Every single greengrocer had boxes of fat-ripe yellow mangoes, some with green patches.
There were even some makeshift stools set up especially to sell the fruit, boxes of which were set on top of each other and displayed. The memory stuck in my mind and it was with great excitement when my mate Paul who lives in Southall visited the new flat and brought a box of mangoes as a present.
But perhaps the most exciting thing about this new variety I had discovered was how to eat it. All you need to do is roll it in your hands and press it so that the insides go soft. Then cut or bite a hole in the bottom and suck out the flesh and juice, preferably over the sink. But along with this exciting new technique came a stern warning: not to eat too many as they are very sugary.
So all this mango talk caused me to look into the honey mango’s nutritional values. So without further ado, the mango’s nutritional characteristics are (and the reason to eat the yummy fruit is): That mangos are rich in fiber, they contain antioxidant vitamins A, E, and C as well as vitamin B6 and other B vitamins, vitamin K, copper, potassium and many other amino acids, and the fruit’s peel and pulp contain omega-3 and omega-6.
The taste of one was enough to make me a fan, as I’m sure you will become, but for those of us who like the numbers, here they are:
- Carbohydrates: 17.00 g
- Sugars: 14.8 g
- Fat: 0.27 g
- Protein: .51 g
- Vitamin A: 38 μg
- b-carotene: 445 μg
- Thiamin: 0.058 mg
- Riboflavin: 0.057 mg
- Niacin: 0.584 mg
- Pantothenic acid: 0.160 mg
- Vitamin B6: 0.134 mg
- Folate: 14 μg
- Vitamin C: 27.7 mg
- Calcium: 10 mg
- Iron: 0.13 mg
- Magnesium: 9 mg
- Phosphorus: 11 mg
- Potassium: 156 mg
- Zinc: 0.04 mg
Author: Mark Kirby
Mark Kirby is the proud owner of Healthier Matters. A vegetarian and health lifestyle supporter but also an avid nature lover and birdwatcher.
Mark is now retired but has spent his entire 40-year career in Healthcare.
