How to Cut, Store and Freeze Mangoes?
The mangoes are a delicious, sweet, and versatile fruit that have many uses. You can use mangoes in a fruit salad, in a smoothie; you can make mango ice cream and a nice filling for a cake. But how to store mangoes?
How to store mangoes?
- Keep a whole, unripe mango at room temperature until it is ripe.
- You can keep a whole, ripe mango in the fridge for 6 days.
- Cut and chunks of mango can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
- Mango pieces can be stored in the freezer for 6 months.
There are many ways to store a mango. However, there is one starting point; is it a whole mango or has the mango already been cut? This makes a big difference. Everything about preserving mango is covered in this blog. It actually starts in the supermarket when you buy the mango.
Buy mango. Where to watch out?
When you buy a mango it starts with a feeling. Hold the whole mango and feel. The mango should feel soft, a bit like a soft peach. But not too soft either.
If you leave the mango for a few days when you return home, then take a harder mango and it can ripen further at home in the kitchen at room temperature.
The mango should be in the shape of a rugby ball. Do not buy flat or round mangoes!
Also, don’t choose mango with wrinkled or shriveled skin. These will no longer ripen.
You can also smell to check your gut feeling. Smell the stem, a ripe mango already gives off a sweet scent.
The color is not the best way to see if a mango is ripe. The skin can have brown spots and look unpleasant. However, this does not say anything about the ripeness and taste. Use the above method to determine whether a mango is ripe or not yet.
How Mango Ripen?
Is a mango not yet ripe? Then put the mango on a board or table and let the mango ripen at room temperature. It is a tropical fruit, so they are not fond of low temperatures. If you want to stop the ripening process, you can put a whole mango in the fridge.
Room temperature is the best temperature for further ripening a mango. It usually takes another 2-3 days before a mango bought in the supermarket is ripe. At very high temperatures, for example in summer, a mango ripens very quickly. The mango is often ripe within 1 day.
Is it going too fast and do you want to stop the ripening process? Then put the mango in the fridge, they will keep it for another 6 days.
Keep Whole Mango
This has actually already been described in the chapter above, but it boils down to this in a nutshell.
Let whole unripe mango ripen at room temperature. The mango is ripe within 2-3 days.
You can store whole ripe mango in the refrigerator. You can then keep the mango for about 6-7 days.
Do you want to stop the ripening process? Place the mango in the fridge.
The mango is rotten when it has black spots and the smell becomes sour. It also feels mushy. Do not eat this mango anymore, but throw it away.
Preserve Sliced Mango
You can still keep a sliced mango. This is kept in the refrigerator in a closed container. You can keep the mango for another 2-3 days.
When you want to use it again, the advice is always; look, smell and taste if the mango is still good.
Keep Mango in Refrigerator
You can keep a whole mango in the fridge if you want to stop the ripening process, see the chapter ‘Ripening Mango’.
You can also store a sliced mango in the refrigerator, in a closed container. The mango will keep for 2-3 days.
You can also keep mango pieces in the fridge. When you have sliced mango and you are not using all of the mangoes, cut the rest of the mango into cubes and keep it in a sealed container in the refrigerator. This way you can process it the next time without having to clean it. You can keep the mango for 2-3 days.
Freezing mango
What often happens with mango is freezing, keeping it in the freezer.
You can freeze a whole mango and save it for later. However, the entire mango must be defrosted and this takes a while.
More usual is to freeze pieces of mango.
To do this, peel the mango and cut the mango into cubes or slices. Put the mango pieces in a plastic freezer bag and spread the pieces out so that you have a layer. Now put the bag in the freezer. You can now keep the mango for at least 6 months, but they usually cannot. They are often used to be processed in a fruit salad or a delicious smoothie.
If you want to use the mango, remove the required amount from the freezer and put the pieces of mango on a plate. If you have enough time, let it thaw in the refrigerator, otherwise, it can be covered outside the refrigerator.
Cutting the Mango?
Cutting and cleaning the mango is explained in the video below. There are several ways to do this. Images work better than words in this case!
Mango Drying
Another way to store mango is not that common but fun to do. You can also dry mango. Dried mango costs 3-4 times more expensive than regular mango at the store. So if you want dried mango you can also make it yourself, it is not difficult to do.
Clean the mango and cut it into thin strips. The thinner the strips, the faster the drying will be done. Have a look at the video above for how to cut the mango.
Remove the baking tray from the oven and place a sheet of parchment paper on it. Now put the strips of mango in 1 layer on the baking paper. The oven has now been preheated to 50 degrees. Now put the baking tray in the oven and let the drying begin. It does take some time, it is not done in an hour. However, it takes a few hours.
The mango is ready when they look dry and the strips are still pliable. If this is the case, take the mango out of the oven. Let them cool down for a while and keep them in a closed jar.
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