Fruit Guides
How to Tell When a Mango Is Ripe
Smell, squeeze, and weigh — the three tests that never lie.
Forget the colour. A mango tells you it is ready through three senses — smell, touch and weight — and once you learn to read them, you will never bite into a hard, pale disappointment again.
The nose test
Hold the fruit to your nose, stem end first. A ripe mango smells of mango — sweet, heady, unmistakable. No aroma means it is not there yet, however it looks.
The squeeze test
Press the whole fruit gently with your palm. It should yield a little, like a peach at its best. Hard means wait a day. If it feels mushy or the skin wrinkles, it has gone past its moment.
The weight test
Lift it. A ripe mango feels heavy for its size, because juiciness has weight. Light mangoes are often dry inside, no matter how sweet they smell.
Our Alphonso Mango selection
End of story
Taste the story
Ready to taste it?
BESTSELLERKeep reading
More from the journal
Fruit Guides
The Art of the Perfect Mango
A guide to choosing, ripening and enjoying mangoes at their best.
6 min read
Fruit Guides
How to Store Fresh Berries
Berries have one enemy: moisture. Here is how to keep them.
3 min read
Seasonal
Why Seasonal Fruit Tastes Better
In season means the fruit grew in the weather it evolved for.
5 min read
The fruit letter
The Fruit Letter
Seasonal fruit. Recipes. Stories from the orchard. Delivered occasionally.
No daily emails. Just good fruit stories.