The odd mango

The rains have come. I wonder how long will the season's sweetest mango harvest last. The long dry spell for the lowland farms with cracked earth meant more flowers for the mango trees, thus more of the juicy, fibrous fruit, higher blood sugar content and deeper pleasures of the palate.

But one day, among the basket of fruits that Rolly brought home (this may have gone unnoticed when he bought them), my family came upon this sight. We didnt' know whether to laugh at its strangeness or to consider it a freak of Nature. I imagined that someone must have left a yellow rubber ducky or something close to its shape high up a mango tree branch, and the fruit morphed into this.



The little odd mango had staying power. We left it where it was until it started to look slightly bruised to indicate a ripening. I took that cue to peel it gently until it was in its full yellow orange naked glory. I proceeded to relish--yes, yum dee dee yum yum. It had all the stickiness of summer in it. Then I got to the tip or the head of the fruit. It turned out to be a second seed attached to the bigger one. Yes, almost like a baby mango with the same texture and flavor, only smaller.

Odd-looking,yes, but it was good. Nothing like a Philippine mango. Wherever you travel, wherever you roam, be glad, be happy we have these mangoes at home.

Thank you, summer of 2015. You have been odd but as good as a mango ripened by an unusually long drought.


And look, there's a second one! Photos by Babeth Lolarga