This girl loves mangoes!

Eversince I was little, I have been in love with this yellow sometimes green, sweet sometimes sour, half-moon shaped tropical fruit called the mango.  I remember the Indian Mango tree up in Indang, Cavite where we'd spend our weekends hanging out picking fresh fruits from the trees that are abundant there.  My dad also use to bring us to his kumpare's farmhouse in Trece Martires.  There we'd enjoy our choice of fruits, grilled "tilapia" for lunch while playing with our Barbie dolls in a small nipa hut.  The air was fresh and nibbling on green mangoes and "bagoong" was my favorite past time.

Green and ripe mangoes

As I grew older, I still continued to love this fruit.  I couldn't imagine how many kilos of mangoes I've already consumed in my 32 years of existence.

sliced mangga at bagoong at asin

For a couple of years when I got diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, I stopped eating mangoes.  My mom believed that it sort of triggers my stomachache so I stopped eating mangoes for a while.  As I got better and learned to manage this illness, little by little, I was able to eat sour and citrus fruits again.  I started eating mangoes again!

Every now and then I would go to the market to buy green mangoes and "bagoong".  Sometimes I would ask my husband to buy some for me.  On occasions when we visit places where there is a mango tree, I ask for permission from the owner if we can get some from the tree.  Like on one of our visits in my husband's aunt.  They have a big "Apple Mango" tree in their backyard.  So we immediately asked for permission, looked for the "panungkit" and enjoyed picking mangoes from the tree.

my husband with the "panungkit"

I'd also say that we Filipinos are lucky because we have the best mangoes in the world.  I have yet to try the mangoes of Zambales, they say its the best there is.

huge apple mangoes

My love for mangoes will never falter. As long as I can, I'm gonna eat 'em!

I LOVE MANGOES!