i can't believe how much sooner the mango season has started this year. early april is when the first harvest of mangoes usually trickle in and it isn't till end april and may when mango season is in full swing in india. but i'm guessing that thanks to global warming and the over eagerness of growers to cater to the insatiable appetite that we have for "the king of fruits", mangoes are now available in bombay as early as the third week in february!
actually i'm not complaining at all. in fact, after i saw a very inviting photo of mangoes at crawford market in bombay times last weekend, i made a trip to the market myself to secure a kilo of the season's freshest crop. i hadn't been to crawford market since i was a teenager who used to unwillingly accompany my mom on her fruit buying expeditions.
but i didn't feel lost at the market at all. as soon as i got out of the car, several helpers with big baskets tried to convince me to avail of their services. i reluctantly walked behind an elderly helper who looked least likely to fleece me. he correctly sniffed out that i was at the market to buy mangoes so he directly took me to venubhai vithal morde's stall which had stocked the widest range.
venubhai himself chatted with me , hoping to sell several kilos of mangoes. maybe he thought i'd pick up many boxes which each have a dozen. but when he realised that i wasn't interested in buying so much (he was quoting Rs. 800 a kilo!) and all i wanted to do was to take photos, he quickly lost interest and turned his attention to the next customer. in my brief chat with venubhai, i learnt that the earliest crop this year was from ratnagiri in maharashtra which is known for its alphonso variety of mangoes, the most sought after variety. i took lots of photos and then wandered around the rest of the market checking out the various fruits and vegetable stalls.
i looked for somebody who would sell me a kilo of mangoes at a less exorbidant price but i had no luck. disappointed, i was walking out when i was mobbed by street vendors who were hanging out outside the market ready to pounce on those who hadn't bought fruit in the market. at this point i wasn't really interested in buying so i slashed my ask rate to rs. 300, and surprisingly this guy gave in and i got myself a kilo!
crawford market is unbelievable dirty and smelly but there is something very attractive about making the expedition here, attempting to haggle with the vendors and walking away with fruit you have chosen yourself. i rushed home, throughly washed the one of the ripest mangoes i had bought and cut the fruit into three slices to taste immediately. yumm...it was delicious to bite into the sweet flesh. to be honest, the mangoes weren't fully ripe (i think the ripening process was artificially accelerated) but the satisfaction of biting into a fresh mango in february was a thrill in itself. i'm not rushing back to the market anytime soon but will wait till april for the best crop of the season to arrive!
6 comments:
lulu,i wish you had told me that you were planning to visit crawford market. my friend dasarath mane has his mago shop there.he would have given you a good deal.please see my posting in april last year titled 2 in 1.good pictures and wish you many more visits during the mango season.
Lulu, the post made my mouth water. I can't wait to eat a delicious Alphonso!!!
I wonder if the mango treaty that the US and India signed means that we may see these beauties in the US this year. I certainly hope so. Else, I may be forced to visit you during the season :)
hello shripriya:
"hapoos" as alphonsos are called in mumbai are now there,a bit prematurely.and the prices are exorbitant.lot of them are going to be exported and probably to usa from this year as well.i hope not.then we can see you this season!
take care.
Ananya is drooling (not that she's allowed near a computer screen to actually see this). She devours the cheap Peruvian mango that we're getting here right now - can't imagine what she'd do to a nice alphonso or banganapalli.
As Shri said, I'm hoping to see some good ones here this year, at affordable prices too.
GS - visiting you guys is a great reason to come this summer :)
Reminds me of my trip to Crawford Market. I enjoyed myself and bought a couple of food items from there. But the thing about this market is that you need to know the shop you want to go to or it can be quite a difficult task to locate the right shop. I wish they had it all categorised! I know I'm asking for too much here but shopping would be so much better.
I also stopped by this very shop but the man sold me some really sour grapefruit!
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