How to ripen and store Pakistani mangoes at home
How to tell when a mango is ready, how to speed it up, whether the fridge helps, and what to do with a box that has just arrived by air.
The short answer
Leave mangoes on a counter out of direct sun, in a single layer rather than piled up, for two to six days. A paper bag speeds it up, and a banana or an apple in the bag speeds it up further. Judge by feel and smell rather than colour: a ripe mango gives under your whole palm and smells sweet at the stem end. Never refrigerate a mango that is still hard, because cold stops the ripening and it does not restart properly afterwards. That is the most common way a good mango is wasted.
How to tell when a mango is ready
Colour is the least reliable test. A Sindhri can look golden and still need three days. Use your hands and your nose instead.
Hold the fruit and press gently with your whole palm, not your fingertips, which bruise it. A ripe mango gives slightly and springs back. If it feels hard all the way through, it is not ready. If your thumb sinks in and stays there, you have left it too long.
Then smell the stem end. A ripe mango smells sweet and floral there. If there is no smell at all, wait. If it smells sharp or fermented, it has gone over.
The four varieties do not behave the same way. Chaunsa goes properly soft and juicy when ripe. Sindhri stays noticeably firmer even at its best, so do not wait for it to go soft or you will miss it. Sohnaro is the firmest of the four and keeps its structure. Langro is the one that catches people out, because it stays green even when it is ready: colour will tell you nothing, so go by smell and give.
Ripening at room temperature
Leave the mangoes out on a counter, out of direct sun, in a single layer rather than piled up. Air needs to move around them. Depending on how they arrived, this takes anywhere from two to six days.
To speed it up, put them in a paper bag. The fruit gives off ethylene as it ripens and the bag holds it close, which pushes things along. A ripe banana or apple in the bag speeds it up further. Check daily, because once it starts it moves quickly.
In Pakistan people often bury mangoes in rice or wheat for a day or two, which does the same job for the same reason. It works.
The fridge question
Do not refrigerate an unripe mango. Cold stops the ripening process and it does not restart properly afterwards. You end up with fruit that softens without ever developing the sugar or the smell, which is the most common way a good mango gets wasted.
Once a mango is ripe, the fridge is useful. It will hold for a few days in there and slows everything down. Take it out an hour or so before you eat it, because cold flattens the flavour and the aroma is half the point.
What not to do
Do not stack ripening mangoes in a deep bowl. The ones underneath bruise and then spoil, and a spoiled mango will take its neighbours with it.
Do not leave them in a sealed plastic bag. They need air, and trapped moisture rots the skin.
Do not put them on a sunny windowsill. Direct sun cooks one side and leaves the other behind.
Do not judge by a red blush. On Chaunsa a blush is normal and means nothing about ripeness.
If your box arrived by air
Fruit that has travelled is usually picked firm so it survives the journey, which means it arrives needing a few days. Open the box the moment it arrives, do not leave it sealed.
Take every mango out, look at each one and set aside any that are already soft or damaged to eat first. Lay the rest out in a single layer somewhere cool and dark. They will not all ripen at the same rate, which is normal. Check them daily and move each one to the fridge as it comes good, rather than waiting for the whole box.
A box that has been in transit will sometimes have condensation in it. Wipe the fruit dry before you lay it out.
Cutting and eating
Stand the mango on its end, stone edge towards you, and cut down either side of the stone to get two cheeks. Score the flesh in a grid without going through the skin, then push the skin inside out.
Sindhri holds its shape well when you do this, which is why it is the easier one to serve to guests. Chaunsa is often better simply squeezed soft and eaten straight from the skin over a sink, which is how most people in Sindh eat it and there is no improving on it.