Mangos (L. Mangifera indica) Cool nerd note: Mango comes from the same family (Anacardiaceae) as Cashew, Sumac and the notorious 'Poison Ivy'. Although I see a mango and immediately think of the ocean and lands of the various Caribbean islands, there are quite a few varieties of mangoes and they come from all over the world. Mangoes are native to India and remain the highest producer with literally hundreds (I've read over 1000+) of cultivars. For instance, I've heard Australia grows eight (8) different varieties. That's enough to get me over my discomfort of all the things on that bloody island/continent/country that can kill us there. Off topic, but did you know they have the highest number of poisonous snakes and spiders in the world? And apparently, there are times of the year that humans are advised NOT to go to the beach because sharks tend to frequent the shallow waters during specific periods. Ugh.
Uncool. Anyway, back to happier thoughts of sweet and lovely morsels of heaven (a.k.a. mangoes)...here in the Caribbean, we have the following cultivars:
Amélie, Black (blackie), Bombay, Dou-douce, East Indian, Graham, Haden, Julie (St.Julian also called 'Julian'), Long, Madame Francis, Rose, Paywe (sp?), Spice-Box, and Starch. <
Soon to harvest...Golden Apple (L. Spondias mombin) This is not the same as North American yellow coloured or golden apple found in common grocery stores. This is another tropic fruit that is (a) native to the Caribbean and (b) known by many different names: Ashanti plum, Spanish plum, Yellow mombin, gully or hog plum. This oblong fruit has a
yellow-orange, when ripe, leathery skin and a thin layer of pulp. The seed is surrounded by a tough, prickly membrane.
Benefits: The pineapple flavor varies from sweet to acidic and is considered a good source of vitamin C. This tree bears
fruit once a year, in fall and winter.
Breadfruit (L. Artocarpus altilis) A member of the Mulberry family (Moraceae). I know one this well. I've had it many times in my childhood...and hated it. As an adult, I'm willing to seek out new experiences and perhaps find a preparation method that can make this suitable to my palette. I recently saw a few on the ground near the beach house I was chilling at with a friend. It reminded me that I should try it again. The grapefruit-sized ovoid fruit has a rough surface, and each fruit is divided into many achenes, each achene surrounded by a fleshy perianth and growing on a fleshy receptacle
When fully ripe it is sweetly fragrant with a somewhat soft, cream to yellow colored, pasty interior. At this ripened stage, breadfruit may be eaten as a fruit or under ripe as a vegetable.
Benefits: A single tree produces up to two hundred or more fruits per season and fruits more or less continuously year round, but there are two or three main fruiting periods. The main ripening season is May to July or September.Breadfruit is roughly a quarter carbohydrates and three quarters water. It has an average amount of vitamin C and small traces of minerals such as potassium and zinc and vitamins B1.
Avocado (L. Persea americanac) - in Barbados, some people call them 'Pears'. Other names throughout the Caribbean are: 'Butter Pears' or 'Alligator Pears'. Avocados are climacteric meaning the fruit matures on the tree butripens off the tree. They are of the same family as camphor, cinnamon and bay leaf.
Benefits: An average avocado tree produces about one hundred and twenty avocados, normally from May through to February, annually and fruits year-round. The fruit is not sweet but distinctly yet subtly flavored and has an unusually high amount of fat (fifteen percent) which is primarily monosaturated. An avocado also contains the highest concentration of dietary fiber of any fruit, it is rich in vitamin B, E and K, and has up to sixty percent more potassium than bananas.
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