How To Properly Cut A Mango

What is a mango?

Mangos are quite popular all over the world. This sweet fruit is perfect to eat on its own or add to fruit salads. It’s also quite a popular ingredient in sweet and sour and savory dishes. There are many varieties of mango, but the most famous one is the Ataulfo mango, which is yellow in color and relatively small in size. This mango is known for its super-sweet taste and silky texture. You’re probably also familiar with the bigger red varieties of mangos, which are also sweet but slightly stringier in texture. While we all know how a ripe mango should taste, some people find picking a ripe mango in the store a bit challenging.

How To Know When A Mango Is Ripe?

The easiest way to tell whether a mango is ripe is by its color and touch. Ripe mangoes are generally red or yellow in color, depending on the kind of mango. But the most full-proof way to check if the mango is ripe is by picking it up in your hand and squeezing it lightly. When mangos are ripe they feel firm but when you press it a little with your fingers you feel it give in a little — that’s how you know a mango is ripe. If, however, a mango feels very squishy from the get-go — that’s an overripe mango, and it’ll be stringy when you cut it open. If the mango feels hard and doesn’t give in at a slight push of your finger — that means it’s unripe and will be hard to cut, won’t be sweet, and will taste a bit like pine.

How To Peel And Slice A Mango

Speaking of peeling and cutting a mango, it’s quite a learning curve for those who aren’t used to cutting mangoes. The difficulty in slicing a mango lies in the shape of its pit and the slipperiness of the mango flesh. So here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. The shape of the pit

The mango pit is flat and wide in shape, so when you cut around it you get two big halves of mango and the middle slice. It’s also important to remember that the pit is generally twice as tall as it is wide.

2. The shape of the fruit

Since the fruit is rounded on all sides, it won’t lay flat on the cutting board, which can only result in injury if you try to cut it in half. It’s always a good idea to first cut off a slice on the side of mango to create a flat surface. This way you’ll be able to lay the fruit flat on the cutting board and slice the mango safely and properly.

3. Slippery Flesh

When you cut a mango, you have to keep in mind that the flesh of the fruit is extremely slippery. It’s best to keep some of the peel intact when cutting the fruit so that you can have a firm grip on the fruit.

How To Cut A Mango

There are two ways to properly cut a mango. You can cut it with the skin still on. Or you can peel a mango first. If you choose to peel a mango, make sure to leave two little bits of skin on so that you can maintain a grip on the fruit. Hold a mango with one hand and slice the knife close to the pit on one side. Then rotate the fruit and cut the mango on the other side of the pit, as close to the pit as you can. Remember that you can’t slice a mango in half, you will always have two halves and a middle section with the pit.

The Easiest Way To Cut A Mango

In our opinion, the best way to cut a mango is to do it without peeling a mango. You just slice two halves off with the skin still intact. Afterward, you can just score the mango by cutting vertical and horizontal lines throughout the flesh of the mango without actually cutting through the skin. Then you turn the mango halves inside out and use a knife to cut off the little cubes you just created by scoring the mango.