How to deal with unripe mangoes

Mango has delicate flesh and a sweet and refreshing taste, so it is loved by many people. It is rich in vitamins and can effectively help the human body replenish the oxygen it needs. However, you should not eat too many mangoes, otherwise you will get a sore throat. However, unripe mangoes taste sour, so certain ripening measures must be taken so that you can eat delicious mangoes more quickly.

Can you eat unripe mangoes?

You can eat it. Eating unripe mangoes has no effect on your health, but it will taste sour and astringent. Also, be careful when eating unripe mangoes and do not let the juice drip onto your body. White juice will ooze out from the mango stem, which can cause itching and cause skin allergies if it gets on your skin.

How to ripen unripe mangoes

1. Put it together with the banana peel

Banana chips can produce the ripening agent ethylene, which helps ripen mangoes. It is best to find a bag, put the banana slices and mangoes together, seal it, and place it at room temperature of about 25-30°C. It will be ripe in 24 hours. Look for banana chips that are fully ripe, preferably with a few black spots.

2. Put it together with apples

Apples themselves can emit a considerable amount of ethylene. Placing unripe mangoes and apples in a sealed container can increase the ethylene concentration and speed up the ripening of the apples.

3. Buried in rice

There will also be some ethylene gas around the stored rice. If you bury the unripe mangoes in the rice, the mangoes will be fully ripe in about 3 days.

Tips: When ripening mangoes, it is best to place them in a relatively high temperature so that ethylene can be produced faster.

How to tell if a mango is ripe

1. Look at the shape. For most varieties of mango, round or football-shaped ones are better than flat ones. However, the differences between different varieties of mangoes still need to be noted.

2. Look at the fruit stem. The flesh and skin around the fruit stem should be bulging and relatively round. Before a mango is ripe, the stem will become quite flat on one end. The pulp, juices and sugars inside are not yet fully ripe. Once the mango has finished growing and is ripe, the flesh should be plump and the stem should be slightly raised rather than flat.

3. Don’t just look at the color. The red color usually only shows how much sunlight the mango has received, not its freshness. Moreover, different varieties of mangoes have different colors when ripe. You shouldn't rely solely on color to determine if a mango is ripe, but if you want to use color as a backup indicator, you must first understand what the individual varieties look like when ripe.

4. Pay attention to spots. Although it's not a sure thing, if the mango already has some brown spots or streaks on its skin, it's likely ripe. A mango without markings may also be ripe, depending on the variety. Spots alone should not be used to judge maturity. Some mango varieties, such as the Kent mango, may have yellow spots instead of brown spots.

5. Choose mangoes with sweet fragrance. Smell the area around the fruit stem to see if there is any fragrance. If it has a strong fruity aroma, there is a good chance it is fully ripe. Avoid mangoes that are sour or have an alcoholic taste. If you smell a strong bitter smell at the base of the mango, it means the mango is overripe and starting to rot.

6. Gently squeeze the mango. When you squeeze the mango, you should feel a "pop" or pinch. The softer mangoes are the riper ones. If the mango does not dent when you squeeze it, or if it feels hard as a rock, it is not ripe enough to eat. (To avoid damaging the fruit, use your palm, not your fingers, to squeeze. Hold the mango in one hand. Hold the mango in your hand and gently squeeze it with your palm.)

7. Feel the peel. Gently rub your fingertips over the surface of the mango. The skin of ripe mangoes often has some cracks. However, the absence of fruit cracks does not necessarily mean that the mango is raw. If the lines are deep and cover a large portion of the surface of the mango, the mango is likely overripe.

8. Determine its weight. Pick up the mango in your hands and feel its weight. A ripe mango will feel heavier for its size and will be heavier than an unripe mango. If you need a more accurate weight indicator, compare this mango, which is probably ripe, to a mango you know is raw. A raw mango should feel noticeably lighter than this one if it were ripe, especially if they are the same size and variety. If the two weights are too close, then the second mango is probably raw.