Saigon Mango

Mango..

One of the beautiful seasonal fruits..

Nice for after meal, and really great for the kids' afternoon snack ..

The usual size of the fruit is a little bigger than a folded fist, which would be quite comfortable to hold while peeling the skin and cutting the flesh into small pieces. However, this one variety that we have at home, turned out so much bigger than usual..

It must have been about 8-10 years ago, when Mum and Dad went to Australia, to visit my sister, and brought home a few Australian mangoes. They gave some to Mother and Father, who then planted the stone (seed) in the front yard.

Last year, the tree had fruits for the first time, but the fruit didn't survive.. The few that fell, in the size of half my fist, tasted pretty good (for a half-ripe fruit), so we were hoping that the fruits would turn out better this year..

To our excitement, this year, the tree have many fruits, and.. they are BIG!

Mother had an invitation to come to a fruit farm on Sunday, so she brought some pictures of the mango and the tree, to ask the staff there, the exact variety of the mango and how to care for it.

Well, this is the information that Mother received from the farm staff..

This type of mango is called 'SAIGON MANGO' .. It is a native fruit of Kalimantan (Borneo), which was brought to Vietnam and then researched and scientifically grown there.. From there, it must have been brought to Australia, where it was, again, grown there.. that was why I knew it (the first time) as 'Australian Mango'...

This mango can grow to 1.5kg .. For comparison, regular mangoes vary from 300-350grams each (2-3 fruits in a 1kg package). The colour of the fruit gradually becomes paler as it comes nearer to harvest time. When they are ready for harvest, the stem connected to the fruit will turn reddish.

This picture was taken last week (23 October 2012)

Last week, we put plastic bags (the 2kg ones), to cover the mangoes. This morning, we had to take the plastic bags off, because the mangoes did not fit in them anymore..

The branch, had to be supported by a wooden stick, because it was bending lower and lower, closer to the ground. A few days ago, another wooden stick had to be added for the extra support.. 

The mangoes were covered in plastic bags

At the moment, the fruits on our tree look like they weigh about 1kg each, and the stems are looking orange-ish brown.. So, we are hoping they will be ripe soon and ready for harvest..

I remember that when I was in Australia, I was not a big fan of Australian mango, but still, I can't wait to try the ones the grow on our tree.. They look soooo tempting.. (Mother is starting to wonder, how can we peel the skin, when the fruit is much bigger than our palm..) .. Well, we'll have to see what happens when that happens.. ;-)

I am not a great photographer, so, please excuse me for the pictures that are meant to be representing the size of the growing mango fruits.. I hope they can still show how big they have grown in only a few days..

The picture on the left was taken on Friday, the 2nd of November .. The middle picture was taken on Sunday, the 4th of November .. The picture on the right was taken this morning, Tuesday, the 6th of November 2012.

Many thanks to Capo (Feyzhel), for his willingness to pose with the mango.. :-D .. He is now 14 months old.. ;-)

I really hope that the mangoes will turn out well and that the tree will have more fruits in the coming years.. :-)

See you at harvest time!