How do I ripen a Mango?

Question

I've bought a fresh mango for a recipe, I've not used mango fresh before and it's currently pretty green (there didn't seem to be any that were more ripe at the shop) and came with a sticker on informatively saying just "Ripen at home".

So, what's the best environment to help it ripen?
Should it be refrigerated during ripening and/or when ripe?
And how do I reliably tell when it's 'ready'?

Asked by DMA57361

Answer

You can let it ripe at room temperature.

If you want to slow down the ripening process, put it in the fridge, although this will affect the mango negatively. If you want to speed up the process, put it in a bag with a banana.

When the mango is ready to eat, it will be slightly soft if you press it and you can smell the mango flesh through the peel. The green colour will not totally disappear.

Answered by Mien

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What is the dish shown in the “Sunset Limited”

Question

In the movie, "The Sunset Limited" Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson eat a dish which I'm dying to know what it is.
They say it has molasses, rutabaga, bananas and mangoes in it, and it's sort of liquid. Can anyone try and say what that is, and where I can find a complete recipe to make such a recipe? (If you are up for the challenge, maybe you can create one yourselves to include the ingredients above.)

This is the bit I am talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfH9SclYNVg&t=13m20s.

Also including a readable text link to the novel transcript.

Asked by hizki

Answer

A synopsis of the play says this about the dish:

In the second movement, White agrees to eat a meal of multi-cultural soul-food Black prepares for him, relishing it and Black's stories of prison life.

In Black's description in the clip you linked, he says that he learned to prepare it "right here in the ghetto" and that "there are a lot of different influences" from people that come from all over the world. It sounds like the dish is a metaphor for Black's world, or perhaps for his view of the world. Black also says that it gets better after a couple days, that you have to heat it up a few times to get the flavors right, "like chilli." This may be a continuation of the food as life metaphor, but if you take it literally you'd have to guess that the dish itself is a kind of stew.

So, given those clues, if you wanted to make something similar to what Black prepared, I think you'd start by thinking of stew recipes. Ingredients include molasses, banana, rutabaga, and mango, so you've got a mix of starch and sweet. Black and White share this as a meal, not a dessert, so I think you'd want to balance that sweetness with something savory and salty, maybe a ham hock. Onion would also add a savory-sweet flavor that could work with both smoky ham and the sweet ingredients. From there you could add other ingredients, probably whatever you have on hand -- corn, okra, carrots, raisins...

Answered by Caleb

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How to pick a good mango at a local store?

Question

Simply just like the title says. I LOVE mango. But the thing is I don't know how to pick a good one at the local store. I read some tips somewhere from Googling (long time ago, I don't remember its exact url) said to smell it, but I'm not sure what smell should the good mango have? My family and I often must wait for our mangoes in the fridge for more than 5 days just to make sure that they're ready to serve.

Advice? Help? Thanks!

Answer

In the fridge? Keep the mangos out of the fridge and they'll ripen faster, and taste better. The smell should remind you of a delicious mango. :) (No other way to describe it, really)

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How can I make use of an underripe mango

Question

I bought a mango this morning that seemed to be ripe; at least it was the ripest of the bunch. I'm somewhat acquainted with picking out red/green mangoes, but this was my first exposure to yellow mangoes, and I apparently chose poorly.

After slicing up the whole thing, I realized my mistake, and as it is, the fruit is so sour it is inedible.

If it were a lesser fruit (say, a nectarine), I might just toss it, but I'm trying to be resourceful, and mangoes are not inexpensive around here, so I'd like to make use of it. What uses are there for an underripe mango? I thought of simmering it with milk and a little sugar, but I can only guess as to how how things would turn out.

Answer

If you simmer milk with acid, the milk will curdle. I wouldn't go this way.

If you insist on a sweet application, you have to add sugar (or another sweetener) to the mango. A sweet taste will cover acidity perfectly. You can either cook it with sugar syrup, or macerate it. After that, pureeing is probably best, because you want to avoid hard sour pieces in sweet sauce. From then on, your fantasy is the limit. Jam (maybe in combination with another fruit - how about that nectarine and some Grand Marnier?), sorbet, candy, yogurt-based smoothie, jello in molds or as a cake layer, mixing with cheese to create a spread or a mango cheesecake - everything is possible. The taste, however, will be less than optimal, because unripe fruit is not only sour, it doesn't have yet its full aroma. Still, it will work - not as well as a ripe mango, but it will be OK.

Sweet isn't the only option. The classic use for an unripe mango is to put its sourness to good use and prepare a mango chutney. Again, you can stay traditional and make it pure, or experiment with additional fruit and spice combinations. Then use the chutney as a dip or sauce in savory dishes.

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