I do enjoy mangoes. A good mango is a delicious treat, and mango salsa with fish is a divine meal.
Having said that, 90% of the mangoes I eat have at least a very, very slight fishy flavor to them, for at least a taste or two. On occasion, one will taste positively piscine. Now, my search of the web has uncovered others that share this experience.
My question: how many of you out there note this phenomenon also?
Also, for the food chemists: Has the chemical responsible for this been identified?
Hmmmm. I’m a pretty big fan of mangoes and eat them fairly regularly, but I’ve never noted a fishy flavor.
I’ve noticed a fishy taste. It’s very pronounced in frozen mangoes. I enjoy having a smoothie in the AM, and I use frozen fruit because I enjoy the slushie/milkshake quality. I won’t use frozen mangoes, because of the fishy aroma/taste.
Frozen peaches are typically too sour, but if you use a glug of caramel sauce in the smoothie, they are DIVINE.
~VOW
Dried mangoes often taste conspicuously fishy as well. Data point.
I’ve never experienced that. Fresh, frozen, or dried. One of my favorite snacks is dried chili mangoes. Interesting. People who detect this, how’s your take on cilantro? I wonder if it could be a related taste bud thing, like cilantro is lemony/peppery to me, not soapy.
I cannot say I’ve noticed a fishy flavor in mangos.
I eat mangos often (being in southeast asia they are plentiful and cheap) and have never noticed this.
Herby wonderfulness.
Cilantro, BLEAH.
~VOW
Like cilantro, like mangoes. Have not noticed fishy taste in mangoes.
Fresh sliced mangoes (or papayas) drizzled with lime juice - yum. Maybe that counteracts fishieness? Trader Joes sells dried chili chocolate-covered mango slices. Fabulous.
Darn you all, now I’m craving a fresh mango. The ones I can get in the local stores now won’t do. I wonder what the closest location is that I can get a just-picked perfectly ripe mango?
You may have to wait til November.
Here’s the problem with mangoes in the US - when they’re imported, they’re treated for plant pests by… dunking them in boiling water. So every imported mango has a bit of the cooked flavour which I associate with mango chutney, mango jam, etc. - nice, but not fresh mango.
November, however, heralds the season of the Keitt mango. They’re grown in Florida and even (heavens!) southern California. Which means I get LOCAL(ish) fresh mangoes for about a month. I may have gone completely overboard last season; I believe I bought, and consumed, over 50 mangoes that month. I didn’t even process any for freezing, although frozen mango is, in its own way, wonderful.
Also, just because they’re fresh, local, even in season, doesn’t mean that they’re ripe when you buy them. Trust your nose, and only cut into them when you’re sure. Keitts stay quite green when ripe, so don’t wait for the colour to change.
Re: fishyness, some varieties of mango have a turpentiney smell/flavour. There’s even a cultivar called Turpentine. Maybe some similar phytochemicals give a fishy flavour? It’s not something I’ve ever encountered.
In northern Australia, the Bowen (AKA Kensington Pride) and R2E2 are common orchard varieties. For backyard trees, smaller varieties are preferred, like the Irwin, which also have very pretty red skin.
I love mangoes! Bring on November!
I haven’t noticed a fishy flavor, but I don’t eat fresh mango, because it tastes like mold to me. Cooked is fine. Raw tastes moldy.
Turpentine, eh? I haven’t tasted that in a while. Have to get a bottle of terpin hydrate expectorant and take a whiff. See how it compares to my mango experience.
I am reassured at least that there are others out there who taste the ‘fishy’ aspect of mangoes, and I’m grateful that it so minimally intrudes on my enjoyment of them.
I will note for the record that I do taste a tiny bit of ‘soapy’ flavor in cilantro, but otherwise love the stuff.
Try the slices in the jar (brand Del Monte) located in the refrigerated produce section of the grocery store.
Never noticed any turpentine-y taste. The fishy taste is more pronounced in the frozen slices.
The big Mexican papaya flat out STINKS.
~VOW
That’s funny - cilantro doesn’t taste the least bit “soapy” to me but sometimes fresh mangoes (perhaps the riper ones) have a sort of mild perfumey-soapy taste, which is why the lime juice is nice. It cuts the sweetness.
araminty, thanks for the explainer!
Mangoes never have tasted fishy to me but less ripe mangoes (when they are almost crunchy) taste very different than ripe ones and I like both. Ripe Mangoes taste like Mangoes but less ripe Mangoes taste almost like carrots to me. Sweet carrots.
Are they roly poly?
StG
I’ll have to look for those Keitts; thanks! I ate a mango once called a “champagne mango” that was delicious. I think they are from Mexico, so I guess they are probably steam-cleaned too.
Mangoes don’t taste fishy to me, but I don’t like them. Some people I know can’t eat them, because if any mango skin touches their lips, they break out into a poison ivy type rash. That hasn’t happened to me yet, but I still feel wary of mangoes, as well as not being so fond of the taste. I prefer papaya. Though I’ve had some wonderful mango salsa. Oh, and I love cilantro, no soapy taste, just a wonderful herbal freshness that tastes like the breath of life to me.