Champagne Mango With Crystalized Ginger And Mint - Eating Richly

Eric and I were at Whole Foods on Saturday, we’d never been there and were up in Seattle, so thought it’d be a fun place to look for a birthday gift for my sister Sharon. For someone who loves food and cooking, it is an exciting and dangerous place. Dangerous because I just can’t afford to shop there. Fortunately it’s over an hour away so I don’t have to work so hard to resist its pull!

Anyway, first thing we saw when we walked in the door was a beautiful stack of champagne mangoes. I’d never seen a champagne mango before (that I remember at least) and had to get one to try. Before eating it I did a little research and found out a little more about this variety of mango fro ChampagneMango.com “More compact compared to other varieties, it has a kidney-shaped form, with a skin that turns from green to a deep golden yellow when fully ripe. The inside is velvety smooth, with almost no fibrous texture, unlike other varieties, and a much thinner pit (about the thickness of a wafer). The taste is intensely sweet and full. The Champagne® mangois of this variety.”

According to their site, (and other things I read) Champagne Mangoes are grown exclusively in Mexico (which is why I didn’t see trees of them everywhere in Hawaii like regular mangoes). I completely agree with their description that these are less string than regular mangoes. They are really delicious and I decided I wanted to make something really special with it. I have a giant one pound bag of crystalized ginger that my mom gave me because she didn’t know what to do with it. I decided to mince some and play with spicy/sweet/sour flavors and this recipe was born. By the way, if I had fresh mint I definitely would have used that, but the dried was good. This is a great snack, dessert, or side. Eric and I split it but either of us could have easily eaten the whole thing ourselves.

Champagne Mango with Crystalized Ginger and Mintserves 2Ingredients

1 Champagne mango (or regular mango)1 TBS finely minced crystalized gingerjuice of 1/2 key lime1/2 tsp dried mint (or 1 TBS minced fresh mint)1/2 tsp honey

Instructions

Peel the mango and slice into chunks. Mix well with remaining ingredients.