From the Manual Of Tropical And Subtropical Fruits
by Wilson Popenoe
The Mango
Composition And Uses Of The Fruit
The mango contains much sugar. The proportions of other
constituents, such as acids and protein, are low in the ripe fruit. The
following table, from analyses made in Hawaii by Alice R. Thompson,
shows the composition of three well-known Indian varieties:
Table II. Composition of the Mango
| Variety | Total Solids% | Ash% | Acids% | Protein% | Total Sugars% | F.T.% | |
| Pairi | 20.53 | 0.343 | 0.221 | 0.456 | 14.78 | 0.032 | | Alphonse | 20.92 | .469 | .373 | .919 | 14.64 | .149 | | Totapari | 15.27 | .277 | .578 | .475 | 11.48 | .065 |
In commenting on these and other data, Miss Thompson1
says: "The total solids are high for the average fresh fruit; the total
sugars vary from 11 to 20 per cent, according to the variety. In all
samples the sucrose is the principal sugar present. The protein in
several varieties is a little higher than is usual in fruits. The
acidity varies and is as much as 0.5 per cent in one variety.
Qualitative tests showed the presence of considerable amounts of
tannin, but no starch was apparent."
1 Hawaii Exp. Sta. Rept., 1914.
The
unripe fruit is characterized by the presence of malic and tartaric
acids in considerable quantities. An analysis published in the
Pharmacographia Indica shows the percentage of tartaric (with a trace
of citric) to be 7.04, and the remaining free acid as malic, 12.66.
The
Agricultural News (Barbados, September 27, 1913) published a comparison
of the chemical composition of the apple with that of the Carabao
mango, one of the principal Philippine sorts. It was found that "The
former fruit contains 14.96 per cent solids, whereas the mango contains
17.2. In regard to sugar (total) the first-named fruit contains about
7.58 per cent, whereas the mango has 13.24. As regards protein
(nitrogenous matter) the apple has about 0.22 per cent, and the mango
0.22 per cent also. The total acidity in the apple is 1.04 per cent,
whereas in the mango it is only 0.14 per cent. In making these
comparisons we have purposely taken one of the less nutritious
varieties of mango, and it may safely be said that in regard to
chemical composition the balance is on the side of the mango."
While the mango is most commonly eaten as a fresh fruit, it can be utilized in many different ways. Sir George Watt1 says:
"Besides
being eaten as a ripe fruit, numerous preparations are made of it. When
green it is cut into slices, and after extraction of the stone, is put
into curries, or made into pickles with other ingredients or into
preserves and jellies. When young and green it is boiled, strained,
mixed with milk and sugar, and thus prepared as the custard known as
mangophul, or dried and made into the native ambchur. When very young
it may be cut into small pieces and eaten in salad. So again, the ripe
fruit is used in curries and salads, and the expressed juice when
spread on plates and allowed to dry is formed into the thin cakes known
as ambsath."
1 Commercial Products of India.
In
the United States, mangos have up to the present been used chiefly as
dessert fruits. To a less extent they have been made into chutney, -
the spicy sauce well known to all those who have traveled in the
Orient, preserves, sauces, and pies. For these purposes the fruit is
taken before fully ripe. The "mango pickles" sold in the northern
United States are not made from the mango, but from a sweet pepper; the
use of the name mango in this connection is unwarranted.
Mangos
are canned in the same manner as peaches. Recently a firm at
Muzaffarpur, India, has undertaken to develop an export trade in
preserved mangos. About 18,000 cans were shipped to England in a single
year. Consul General William H. Michael said of the product, "I have
opened one can of the Bombay Extra mangos and find that they are
carefully packed and retain their flavor as well as could be expected
of this sort of fruit. In fact they are as well preserved and retain
their flavor quite as well as do peaches canned in California."
Hindu and Muhammadan writers on Materia Medica discuss at length the medicinal virtues of the mango :
"Shortly,
we may say that they consider the ripe fruit to be invigorating and
refreshing, fattening, and slightly laxative and diuretic; but the rind
and fiber, as well as the unripe fruit, to be astringent and acid. The
latter when pickled is much used on account of its stomachic and
appetizing qualities. Unripe mangos peeled and cut from the stone and
dried in the sun form the well-known Amchur or Ambosi (Amrapesi,
Sans.,) so largely used in India as an article of diet; as its acidity
is chiefly due to the presence of citric acid, it is a valuable
anti-scorbutic; it is also called Am-ki-chhitta and Am-khushk. The
blossom, kernel, and bark are considered to be cold, dry and
astringent, and are used in diarrhoea, etc. The smoke of the burning
leaves is supposed to have a curative effect in some affections of the
throat. According to the author of the Makhzan, the Hindus make a
confection of the baked pulp of the unripe fruit mixed with sugar,
which in time of plague or cholera they take internally and rub all
over the body; it is also stated in the same work that the midribs of
the leaves calcined are used to remove warts on the eyelids." (Dymock,
Warden, and Hooper.)
The Mango
Botanical
Description
History and
Distribution
Composition
And Uses Of The Fruit
Climate And Soil
Cultivation
Propagation
The Mango Flower
And Its Pollination
The
Crop
Pests And
Diseases
Races and
Varieties
Back to
The Mango Page
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