This was taken on my much anticipated trip to Bequia last year. Here, I’m having a mango in the market. The guy behind, is a Trinidadian, living and selling his produce there.
Today’s affirmation:
Today I give with love.
Yesterday, I got 3 Julie mangoes from my friend Lucy. After coconuts, it doesn’t get more Caribbean than mangoes and I just love ‘em.
When we were kids, my brother, sister and I would sit with a bucket full and eat to our heart’s content. In Trinidad we have quite a variety but my absolute favourites are Julie, Doudouce, Starch and Long Mango. And for each one I have a favourite way of eating it.
To eat a Julie Mango requires some preparation. I like it ripe but not over ripe, it must be firm to the touch and from the smell of the skin alone, you know it’s gonna be that custardy-mango-y goodness. Then, I slice both faces off and place on a plate with a spoon. For the seed, I peel the skin around it and that joins the others on the plate. Then I find a nice comfy chair, sit and savour each spoonful of mango. The seed I devour and sometimes suck until you can no longer tell if it was ever yellow.
Doudouce, is a small, sweet mango; so small, the entire fruit can fit in your mouth. The skin on a doudouce could range from a dusky rose, to a reddish orange to a bright yellow. All of them, small and sweet, this is one good thing that comes in a small package. For a doudouce, I employ the squeeze and suck method. You gently squeeze the skin of the mango, until the pulp is soft to the touch. Then you bite a small hole in the skin, and suck out all the sweetness. Ambrosia of the fruit world, I tell you.
Starch mango was my mother’s favourite. She would choose the most unblemished ones, peel and savour. Me, I prefer to bite the skin off, suck off all the pulp on the skin and then devour the rest of the mango. Starch mango is a really sweet treat.
Long mango, unfortunately is like the mongrel of the mango world. But it is abundant and sweet. As children, we would raid my aunt’s tree and spend most of day eating our loot, mango juice running down our arms and covering our faces. Oh the glory days of youth.
I decided yesterday, that today’s gift was going to be one of the Julie mangoes. I just had to find the person to give it to. Even, though I grew up with mangoes as a part of my life, everyone I knew had a mango tree in their backyard, in my research I learnt that mangoes were first grown in India over 5000 years ago. And that it is also considered a symbol of Love there. A basket of mangoes is considered a gesture of friendship in India.
It is so poignant to me that I chose ‘giving with love’ as today’s affirmation. I gave my gift of love and friendship, a mango, to my friend Lena. She has been such a pillar of strength for me at times in my life when I really needed her. Though small, it was given with big intentions and blessings.