Mango season arrives

It is a uniquely Asian passion- the Mango- Also known as the "King of fruits". I bought the first ones for the season today and immediately there was excitement at home. Are they ready to eat yet? Do they need to be wrapped in newspaper and allowed to ripen? Everyone needed to inspect and pass a difinitive opinion. Finally we decided ours needed a day more of nurturing and are lying ensconced in yesterday's paper, ready to be devoured tomorrow.

Mangoes mean much more than just the fruit. They herald in a whole host of treats and traditions. Families all over the sub Continent will spend long summer mornings, chopping, pealing, drying and pickling these little green and yellow delights. Many will squeeze the juice to make "Aam-ras"- a natural cooler to beat the famed Indian summer. These delicacies will then be sent in warm care packages to sons and daughters who live away from home, sometimes even over-seas.

Now the US allows import of the Alphonso and even branded pickle is easily available. But my husband tells me stories of long days spent preparing for his PhD. exams with just home made pickle and dry cookies, and I myself spent long summers in California eating South American and South East Asian varieties, longing all the while for the true taste of the Indian fruit.

Many things have changed in urban India and we can get anything from "bhindi" to "kashmiri aaloo" out of a tetra pack, ready to eat. But there is still no taste like that of home made pickle or aam-ras. And mind you, no two households have the same formula. In fact the charm is in the variety and the so-called "secret" ingredients that have been passed along for generations.

No Indian meal in the summer is complete without the mango feast at the end. When I was growing up we had a huge family. A twenty member household, so the fruit had to be rationed. But the sweet taste of the fruit would make us forget everything when we got our hands on it. So as one more season of mangoes dawns on the sub-Continent, here is a toast to this "Raja" of the fruit world, and to many stained white kurtas proudly bearing the mark of souls lost in its sheer delight.