orange color comes from carotenoid
pigments, mainly betacarotene. Mangoes are
climacteric fruits that accumulate starch, so
they can be picked green and will sweeten and
soften as they ripen, from the seed outwards.
Their flavor is especially complex, and may
be dominated by the compounds that
characterize peaches and coconuts (lactones),
generically fruity esters, medicinal or even
turpentiny terpenes, and caramel notes. Green
mangoes are very tart, and are made into
pickles as well as dried and ground to make an
acidifying powder (Hindi amchur). Mango
pickles were so admired in 18th-century
England that the fruit lent its name to the
preparation and to other suitable materials:
hence “mango peppers.”
Mangosteen The mangosteen is the medium-
sized, leathery-skinned fruit of an Asian tree,
G arcinia mangostana. Its white flesh consists
of the arils around several seeds, and is moist