How Can You Ripen Mango?

Mangoes are best left to ripen at home at room temperature together with an apple wrapped in newspaper. What sounds unusual is pure biochemistry. And this is related to the fact that both types of fruit belong to the so-called climacteric fruits. This means: The fruits continue to ripen after harvest due to the natural plant hormone ethylene. The hormone also acts on surrounding fruit. A ripe fruit, therefore, promotes the ripening process of an unripe one if both are next to each other. You can take advantage of this fact if you want to ripen hard, green mangoes. Wrapped in newspaper along with an apple, it should take about two to three days for the mango to finish ripening.

With mangoes that are no longer quite so unripe, it is sufficient if you put them in a warm place for several days. They ripen particularly quickly above the heater. However, there is little point in letting a mango ripen in the oven: the ideal temperature for ripening is 20 to 25 degrees and is not accelerated by higher temperatures. Since the post-ripening process takes two to three days, the oven is not suitable even if you set it to this ideal temperature.

You can also let a peeled mango ripen. If you find when slicing that the fruit is not yet edible, wrap cling film around the sliced ​​mango. Then store them at room temperature for a day or two. Then cut away the edge pieces – the flesh underneath should now be ripe and tasty.

Let the mango ripen: This is how you recognize the degree of ripeness

The fact that mangoes – unlike local apples or pears – often have to be ripened at home is due to the fruit’s far-flung countries of origin. The tropical fruits are usually delivered to us from South and Central America, India, the Philippines, or Pakistan. They have a correspondingly long transport route ahead of them, on which they should not spoil. They are therefore shipped in an unripe state and often end up on our supermarket shelves not yet fully ripened. To check if a mango is edible, do the ripeness test and press the fruit: if it feels hard, it’s unripe. If the flesh under the skin gives way slightly, you can use the mango – for example for our delicious mango jam!

By the way: In theory, you can also eat unripe mangoes – the fruits are not poisonous. However, they are a long way from tasting good. If all the ripening doesn’t help, it’s better to boil the fruit in a homemade curry. Here the taste, along with other spices and ingredients, is less important than when the fruit is consumed on its own.