Alphonso

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Alphonso mangoes in a box surrounded by straw.

Alphonso (हापुस Haapoos in Marathi, હાફુસ in Gujarati) is a mango cultivar that is considered as one of the best in terms of sweetness, richness and flavor.^[1] It has considerable shelf life of a week after it is ripe making it exportable. It is also one of the most expensive kinds of mango and is grown mainly in largest region of western India. It is in season April through May and the fruit weigh between 150g and 300g each.

Overview

Dense Plantation of Alphonso Mangoes

The Alphonso Mango is named after Afonso de Albuquerque. This was an exquisite and expensive variety of mango, that he used to bring on his journeys to Goa. The locals took to calling it Aphoos in Konkani and in Maharashtra the pronunciation got further transformed to Hapoos. This variety then was taken to the Konkan region of Maharashtra, South Gujarat and other parts of India.

The southern district of Ratnagiri and south northern parts of Sindhudurg in Maharashtra state, including regions around the Dapoli and Devgad Talukas, produce the finest quality of alphonso mangoes in India. The southern districts of Valsad and Navsari in Gujarat state and particularly Alphonso mangoes from the Amalsad region (including villages such as Dhamadachha, Kacholi, and all villages of Gandevi) produce Alphonso mangoes as well. Southern States in India are also major mango producing areas. From north to south, climatic changes occur which result in differences in the quality of the produce. In Ratnagiri, the finest fruit comes from a patch of 20 km from the seashore.

It's also the most expensive amongst the sub-breeds of Alphonso. In most of the Indian market sub-varieties are fetching the price of good quality alfonso. These varieties neither have the sweetness, nor have the flavour of hapoos.

The Alphonso is generally referred to as 'Hapoos' throughout South Asia. Haapus is used to make sweets, candies and smoothies - Mango Milkshake, Mango Lassi (both smoothies), Aamba-Wadi (a somewhat chewy sweet), Aam-Ras (Mango pulp which is eaten with puris - an Indian Bread), Sakhar Amba (Marathi word for a home-made mango jelly/jam), Mango barfi (see Barfi), etc.

Non aerated Mango drinks like Frooti (Parle Agro Co.), Jumpin (Godrej Industries Ltd), Maaza (Coca Cola Co.), Dukes Mangola and Slice (PepsiCo Inc.) are very popular in India. Many other local brands are also available.

U.S. import ban removed

In April 2007, the United States lifted its ban on the import of Indian mangoes, including the Alphonso. The first batch of Alphonso mangoes arrived in the U.S. after an 18 year hiatus. However, the mangoes must be treated before entering the country in order to stop the introduction of non-native fruit flies, destructive fungi, and other pests that could cause great damage to American agriculture. Individuals cannot bring mangoes into the United States in luggage or ship them by mail.

References

Food portal

Additional sources

• BBC News: India's much-loved Alphonso mango hit by poor weather
• The Economic Times: Vagaries of nature, rising input costs to kill the famed Alphonso mango crop
• The Guardian (Newsblog): Do you know Alphonso mango?
• DNA News: Cold delays Alphonso mango's arrival in Mumbai
• New York Times: Mango Mania in India

External links

• www.Konkanonline.com: Konkan Tourism

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