The Mangoes in my Granny's Yard

Mangoes… the favorite  fruit of all us kids in Belize. We savored the sweet, juicy, delicious yellow meat and devoured everything except the seed. The skin was sometimes thick and chewy, sometimes thin and so easy to chew. We were always grateful for the space it took up in our bellies that always needed more that we got to eat at mealtimes. And then, we scraped every ounce of flavor off the seed with our teeth. Nothing was wasted!

I now look at the mango as an artist as well and wow! First of all, there are so many different kinds of mangoes, each with it own inherent beauty. Common mango, hairy mango, slippers mango, judgewig mango, number 11 mango, black mango and yellow mango are some that my siblings and I remember.

Mango season extends from the end of April through June or July and I always get to Belize towards the end.

Five years ago, my sister, Ann, my mother and I went to Belize together in mid-July. We missed mango season all together and had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not get to enjoy a Belizean mango at all. But not long after we got to my Gran’s house, she told us to look in the freezer. She had saved three mangoes from her tree for us. I had never even thought of freezing mangoes.

Let me tell you, we all enjoyed those delicious mangoes, the juice running down our arms, just like when we were kids.