Mangoes are forever

The current market rates of Alphonso and Ratnagiri Hapus are such that they have gone beyond the reach of the common man – meant basically for the export market, the Alphonso mangoes are priced at around 800 to 1200 rupees per dozen this year (2015). However, other varieties of the fruit are popular in different parts of the country by their different names and identities. In Bengal, it is the Himsagar and Fajli; the West has the Daseri, Chausa and Langra and Totapuli is the hot favorite of Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Then there are the mango based food items - ice creams are mostly homemade, and are sold on trolleys. When asked for, the delicious offering is scooped and served in glass cups. Readymade branded mango ice creams, where only the flavor is there, is not as popular as the one where real mango pulp is used.
Mango juice sells at a fast rate, but caution needs to be exercised because the quality of the fruits that go into its preparation could prove injurious to health. Still, these have a good number of takers. Bottled cold drinks have a market of their own – the ads on TV are tempting enough and, there are times when the marketing becomes so aggressive that you find a shortage of other brands – hence, to quench your thirst you have to go for the mango juice.
As the tag line of a popular brand goes – har mausam aam.
And one of the favorites in Maharashtra is the puran puri with mango juice. The juice is extracted from fruits that are rich in juice – then it is sweetened with sugar and served with hot puran puris. For the uninitiated, puran puris are nothing but ordinary roti – the only difference is that before rolling it, a stuffing of sweet chana- dal paste is inserted. The combination of puran puri and mango juice with a spread of pure ghee on its outer surface is something that one cannot refuse and one can never be satisfied with only one! (to be continued …)

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)
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