Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Mighty Mango

Sure, you eat bananas, apples, and berries all the time.  But summer is the perfect season to sample something new and tropical!

Mangoes are super high in fiber, and have over 20 different vitamins and minerals!  They contain vitamin A, C, R, B6, and loads of potassium.  That takes care of your skin, immune system, eyes, and blood pressure right there!

There are also current studies looking at how mango fruit helps prevent breast, colon, leukemia, prostrate, and lung cancers due to it's particularly high levels of antioxidants! 

When selecting mangoes at the store, go for fruit that is unbruised.  If they are hard, keep them out at room temperature in your kitchen.  If ripe, keep them in your fridge until you are ready to wash with cold water, pat dry, and eat!

Mangoes are kinda weird to cut, because they have a funky husky seed in the middle.  You can see the picture below, but all you need to do is use a sharp knife to cut the mango lengthwise into a few slices.  Remove the skin from the slices, then cut into chunks. 



The flavor is amazing when you eat the mango by itself, but you can also try adding small chunks to your salads, smoothies, and white fish dishes.  You can also try combining mango with avocado, cilantro, and red onion for a tasty relish to put on top of chicken and fish!

Check out the recipe below, and also visit the online community for mango fanatics at http://www.mango.org/!

Shrimp and Mango Ceviche

3/4 pound (about 30) medium peeled-and-deveined shrimp
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
6 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1 large mango, peeled, pitted and chopped
1 tomato, cored and chopped
1 or 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded (if desired) and finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Bring a medium pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add shrimp and cook until pink and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold running water and drain again.

Chop shrimp into 1/2-inch pieces and transfer to a large bowl. Add onion, lime juice, cilantro, mango, tomato, jalapeño and salt and toss well. Cover and chill until cold, about 1 hour.