Why is my mango not ripening correctly?

Question

I have always been good at being able to tell when a mango is ripe based on the firmness and smell. For the last several batches I have purchased, however, almost every one I cut open is simply not good, with taste nor color. Rather than the deep orange color, I keep getting a yellow hue with browning around the seed:

It seems as though they go bad even though they never quite ripen. Based on this question, as well as other online content, I have tried to wrap them in newspapers, put them in a bag with a banana, or just let them sit at room temperature for several days. Nothing has seemed to work lately. I don't know if there is a correlation, but it seems like they ripen better in the summer rather than the winter (we are in New Mexico). We keep our house at around 72 F.

Do I keep getting a bad batch, or am I doing something wrong? I would love any advice anyone might have.

There are recipes that use unripe mangos - I suggest if you get that kind of "patient" again, look into making a nice achaar or thai mango salad instead of desperately trying to ripen it :) — rackandboneman, Jan 13 '18 at 21:30

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 25 '18 at 23:20

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This happened to me a few weeks ago. Two mangoes just plain would not ripen. I tried the window sill and paper bags. I bought two later and they ripened fine. So I took the first two back. The manager of the fruit department said the pallet is treated with ethylene to ripen the fruit, and sometimes the ethylene does not get to some spots.

edited Sep 25 '18 at 23:20

Marti

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answered Jan 13 '18 at 13:33

paparazzo

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Well, I bought some from a different grocery store and they seemed to be much better. The part that bothers me is that I had tried approximately 5 different batches from the same location, let's call it a popular wholesale store, and they were all bad. Not sure how they can get away with consistently selling them then.. – T James Jan 15 '18 at 15:46
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I hope you got a refund. – paparazzo Jan 15 '18 at 15:57
Does putting the problem mangoes together with some ripening bananas help? Bananas release ethylene when ripening and this will help to those mangoes to ripen – culinascience Oct 01 '23 at 08:29

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 28 '23 at 05:45

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That behaviour is due to being picked very immature at the source or held too long in cold during the distribution process. It's either of those.

edited Oct 28 '23 at 05:45

Dustin G

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answered Sep 25 '18 at 19:33

Oscar

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score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 26 '23 at 11:17

The answer by Oscar is correct. Mangoes are either picked to early and/or transported or stored at a temperature that is too cold, for too long. Decades ago, bulk mango boxes used to say on them "Do Not Store Below 55°F". Then I saw "Do Not Store Below 50°F". Mangoes are different from other fruits in that once they are cooled to too low a temperature for any length of time they will never ripen properly when they warm up, even when treated with ethylene or put in a paper bag to ripen. I believe that supermarkets and their distribution system and/or the fruit distributors themselves, routinely mishandle mangoes by subjecting them to temperatures that are too cold. For many decades I never got a mango from a supermarket that ripened properly, except maybe the little yellow ones they call honey mangoes or champagne mangoes. Then about six years ago I started getting some mangoes that ripened almost like they should, but even so it was maybe one out of four, and whole purchased batches would end up being thrown out at different times. I think I wasted more money on bad fruit than any other supermarket food category over the years. My supermarket does have a good, easy return policy and I used to return such items, and still do sometimes, but it's quite a hassle, especially with fruit.

score -3 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 13 '18 at 13:11

Yellow? Mexico has yellow mango's. Different type of mango than were I live. But mango's can be picked very green or unripe. Shipped then gassed before going to the store to be sold. To start to fast ripen Overseas. Gassing could cause that problem.

Why is my mango not ripening correctly?

4 Answers4