I got a question on my web site from Tammy who said “I was wondering, if you could tell me how to select a good mango and the proper way to cut it?” Both very good questions.

First of all a mango’s color indicates its variety not its ripeness, so red doesn’t mean ripe. To judge a mango’s ripeness, squeeze it gently; if it is ripe, it will “give” slightly and will sometimes have a fruity aroma at the stem end. If it is firm, it will ripen in a few days at room temperature. Placing it in a paper bag will make it ripen faster. Once ripe, mangos should be stored in the refrigerator and used within several days. You can learn more at www.mango.org.

To cut a mango, stand it on a cutting board stem end down and slice down about 1/4 inch from the center removing an oval of flesh and just missing the large flat seed. Repeat on the other side. Remove the peel from the seed; trim off any usable flesh. To cut the remaining mango sections, score slices or dices in the mango flesh down to but not through the skin. Either scoop out the slices or dices with a spoon or press up on the skin until they pop up and trim them off with a knife. Check out the video.