Mangoes are very juicy and are difficult to eat without making a mess. I believe it is an evolutionary development to prevent mangoes from becoming extinct.

Several times I have tried to eat a mango at work during lunch, but each time I would end up with a huge mess. A mess is simply not acceptable in a professional environment (yellow mango stains on pants don't look professional). The evolution of the mango into a juicy mess has finally met its match!

I present the next evolution in mango-eating techniques: the Messless Mango Technique!

1) Hold the mango in one hand so that the stem part is horizontal, and so that the flat face of the seed is facing you. In this position, the seed could be imagined as something like a wall standing upright with mango on both sides.

2) Use your favorite spoon to make an incision in the mango's skin along the long edge of the seed. The incision should be almost the full length of one side of the mango.

3) Use the spoon to dig out chunks of the mango from both sides of the seed. The edge of the spoon can be used for seperating the mango from the seed and the skin. Be careful not to rupture the skin or the juice will come out!

If you did this correctly, you will be left with a mango seed surrounded by an otherwise empty mango skin.
-- eauto, Aug 13 2004

I've actually used this technique, and it works! Although I did have to leave some bits of mango at the bottom of my seed where my Safeways plastic spoon couldn't get at them. Anyway [+] for mango related content.
-- zen_tom, Aug 13 2004


buy a bib
-- suctionpad, Aug 13 2004


No, buy a tarp.

Bread for angering Steven Jay Gould with your "telling a story" method of explaining an evolutionary aptation.
-- shapu, Aug 13 2004


Mmmmmmm...mangoes. I usually eat them while standing over the kitchen sink so I won't make a mess everywhere else. I shall try this new technique this afternoon.
-- Machiavelli, Aug 13 2004


Use a spoon!? INCREDIBLE!!! This whole time I've been eating steak by sticking my face into the bloody hunk of meat, I could've just been using silverware! [-]
-- contracts, Aug 13 2004


Seems like you'd miss a lot of the fruit, unless you use a grapefruit spoon.
-- phundug, Aug 13 2004


Ummm... Try this:
Hold the mango upright, as suggested.
With a sharp knife, cut the entire "cheek" away from the side of the fruit, running as close to the seed as you can.
Rotate the fruit through 180deg and repeat.
Holding one "cheek" in the palm of your hand carefully cross-hatch the fruit, down to the skin, taking care not to cut the skin through. Make about 16 x 1in squares.
Using both hands, press the skin inwards and upwards, so you have the cubes of fruit everted and standing out like the segments on a fragmentation grenade.
Eat, without mess.

The fruit left on the seed is also easy to remove. Pare the skin off in one long strip. The seed is left with a rim of flesh, easy to bite off.

I grew up with seven mango trees in our backyard. There is *no* easier way to eat them than I have described.
-- Zanzibar, Aug 13 2004


Zanz, your way is certainly easier, but it's also a lot messier.
-- 5th Earth, Aug 13 2004


It took [zanz] all day to post his anno, because his keyboard is so sticky :)
-- phundug, Aug 13 2004


I like to cut a " ‡ " and then to spread them and eat. I get a nasty reaction to them, though, due to their taxonomy as part of the same plant family as poison ivy.
-- dpsyplc, Aug 13 2004


I don't recall ever really getting much mango on me, eating them that way. Then again, I probably never eat more than 200 mangoes in any year, so I may not be giving myself a fair chance to get all gooey.

Bythe way, [dpsyplc], the reaction is to an oleoresin, called urushiol, in mango sap. It is common to all of the Rhus family of trees, and is also present in Japanese and Chinese lacquer. Mango sap is nasty. It will take automotive paint off, first time. If it splashes on your skin and you don't wash it off straight away then your skin will blister and peel. I had many "mango boils" when I was a kid.
-- Zanzibar, Aug 14 2004


i always find that simply cutting the "cheeks" off the mango then using a metal spoon to dig out the flesh usually suffices to eat a mango with minimum mess. you just have to cut in against the grain.Also, [zanzibar] either you have rather sensitive skin or im immune to mango sap because the most i've ever gotten from it is a slight itchyness.
-- bonsai_rainbow, Aug 15 2004


Maybe it's the variety? I never got it from Kensington Pride trees, or Bullock's Heart, but the Common and Turpentine varieties are pretty nasty. Left on for a few hours (if you didn't know about it) and I've never met anyone immune to it.
-- Zanzibar, Aug 15 2004


I don't know about variety, i just call them mango, apple mango, and green mango. Also, apple mango is a wonderful answer to the mess problem as they contain less juice than normal mangoes and you can cut them up before you leave the house so you don't have to fuss with spoons or knives during lunch.
-- bonsai_rainbow, Aug 15 2004


Apple mango?
-- Zanzibar, Aug 15 2004


I agree with [bonsai_rainbow], in Thailand that's how they do it.
I'm told that the sap from Bananas is worse than the sap from Mangoes, and that the sap from Papaya is worse than the sap from Bananas. Unripe Papaya is finely cut and used to soften meat.
-- Ling, Aug 15 2004


I'm kind of terrified by the number of people out there who eat fruits and smear themselves with sap, and yet don't bother to wash it off, to be completely honest.
-- shapu, Aug 16 2004


I eat my mangoes with a fork. I open the lid, stab me a slice, and insert into hungry mouth.
-- destructionism, Aug 16 2004


Don't sit under the apple tree ....

In places I've lived, were you to ask for a mango you'd get a green bell pepper.
-- dpsyplc, Aug 16 2004


Yes, apple mango. The flesh is firmer and the skin is usally a redder colour when ripe.
-- bonsai_rainbow, Aug 17 2004


There's a type of mango you can roll between your palms so that the insides get squashed, then make a hole in the skin and suck the contents out.

But, to really appreciate a mango you have to eat it solo - then change your clothes and take a bath.
-- neelandan, Aug 17 2004


there are many great techniques, but few will work in a professional environment. Cutting the mango into chunks before is just blasphemy!
-- eauto, Aug 18 2004


Actually, there is an easier way to eat a mango. I learned this in Ecuador, when I was in the Peace Corps. Basically, you cut a small hole in the bottom end of the mango and suck the insides out. Squeeze the mango gently and keep sucking. If you squeeze too hard the skin will split and you'll have flesh melting mango all over you. The horror. Anyway, this is a good way to enjoy a mango without having to pick 2-3 oz. of mango flesh strings out of your teeth. The same thing works for thick skinned oranges. cj And I guess I should read all the way through to the end. The mangoes that you would eat this way were called mangos de chupar or "sucking mangoes".
-- cj finn, Aug 18 2004



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