So, I think right now my love affair is with mangoes--plump, ripe, juicy, sloppy mangoes. I've been getting these lovely Peruvian mangoes at the market that ripen to perfection--and my long-lost (during the winter months), beloved Ataulfo mangoes have just come back in at the great price of 6/$5! I also bought some green mangoes for the first time.

I had mango mango mango for breakfast (I wanted to eat my whole bag of 12, but I sadly decided to ration).

Now! To my point. I used to eat the flesh around the pit, and cut off the sides, then make a grid and scoop the little cubes of flesh out with a spoon. It was a civilized affair. This has evolved into me ravenously sucking all the flesh from the entire pit, sometimes sucking ON the pit if they're really tasty, and just cutting the two sides into long strips now, so I can use my teeth. I LOVE using my teeth with mangoes, I don't know why I didn't do this before.

I had a green salad with some mango yesterday, and the person who prepared it missed some snips of skin on some of the slices. I didn't bother to pick it off, and just ate it. I also noticed that sometimes, when I'm eating the strips of mango, sometimes the softer skin just comes with the mango, and I'm eating a little bit of the skin, by extension.

During my mango mango mango breakfast today, I found myself with the urge to just eat the skin. To not bother cutting at all. To just tear through the flesh (especially on the soft ataulfos) with my animal teeth and devour the WHOLE mango.

I know of no one who does this, presently. Is it safe or recommendable to just eat the whole skin with the mango? Is it disgusting? I was thinking it might be a bad idea because of pesticides. I haven't tried it yet, but the craving seems to be there, and I did notice I was ingesting small amounts of the skin recently. Has this ever happened to anyone? Is it okay to just try it and see if this is really what my body is asking for?

LOL, nothing yummier than a big tasty jelly-like mango! :-)

I have a book called Foods That Heal, and although it doesn't say the the skin shouldn't be eaten, it does say this:

"since mango peels may be irritating to the skin, you may want to wear rubber gloves when peeling, especially if you will be peeling several mangoes at the same time"

If the skin is a known irritant, maybe it's because of the level of pesticides in unorganic produce? (In the pesticide list, mangoes are considerably low down the scale compared to other produce so maybe there's more to it than that)

It's not the pesticide residue on the mango skin. some people are just super sensitive to the sap/latex in the skin (especially around the stem) and the tree itself. I have a wood worker friend who was so allergic to mangoes that he had to go to the hospital after handling mango wood. Not to worry though, if you were sensitive to it, you'd probably know it by now.

Aloha Nui Loa,

Greg

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices. - William James

There is no pill that can be swallowed,
There is no guru, that can be followed, - Michael Franti (Pray For Grace)

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. - Albert Camus