Best Types Of Mangoes With Their Commercial Value
Mangoes are one of the most sold fruits all around the world. There are over 240 types of mangoes but only 30 mangoes are popular. But on this list, we will be exploring the best types of mangoes with their commercial value.
General Facts About Mango
Mangoes are considered super-fruits. They are rich in Vitamins (A, B1, and B2), the six nutrients, and phenolic and flavonoid compounds.
You can easily spot a mango tree by its evergreen feature, 15-30 height, and dome-shaped crown. Flowers growing inflorescences, and branches having pale green to pink and red colour. Their flower mangoes are either hermaphrodites or only male (lack pistil). Mango species are enhanced by cross-pollination.
Mango fruits vary in shape, size, taste, scent, and texture of the pulp. Mango fruits are the most e
Mangoes blossom during the coldest periods of the year in tropical climates. Most mangoes originated from India and Florida and they are still the biggest mango producers.
Mango is eaten uncooked and is used in making pickles, juice, syrup, paste etc. Mangoes are also used for making flavour for wines, ice cream, juices, teas etc. Beauty industries also use mango in their productions.
Like we said earlier, we have 240 types of mangoes but about 30 are commercial and 10 are the best commercially. The commercial mangoes in the market worldwide are normally derived from Mangifera Indica species.
Best Types Of Mangoes With Their Commercial Value
1. Tommy Atkins Mango
Tommy Atkins Mango is originally from Florida in 1922. It is unique for its high productivity, robustness and good resistance to diseases. Tommy Atkins mango is widespread in Brazil and very popular with European consumers.
Tommy Atkins mangoes are ovoid-shaped, weigh about 450-710g and have thick yellow, orange or bright red peel. Its bulb is bold orange coloured.
The only disadvantage of Tommy Atkins Mango is that the quality of the fruit can deteriorate if too much water or too much fertilizer is employed during the growing stage.
2. Alphonso Mango
Alphonso mango is one of the types of mangoes popularly grown because of its commercial value. It is grown mostly in the Konkan Region and South Gujurat Region India.
Alphonso mango is the most exported mango worldwide and is also the number one tastiest mango. And because of this, it is mostly used in making ice cream, Lassi, Mousee, Puree, and Sorbet.
It weighs 150- 300g and it’s patronized because of its rich creamy tender texture and delicate non-fibrous juicy pulp. This mango turns golden yellow (with a tint of red at the top) when mature.
Cultivating Alphonso mango normally needs highly skilled hands as it’s not like other types of mangos that you plant with a seed, in this case, you will need to use the specialized species of grafting.
You know nothing good comes easy, the same is with Alphonso mango. In 1989 there stood an import ban on Alphonso mangoes into the U.S because of non-native fruit flies, destructive fungi and other pests that could damage American agricultural commodities.
In April 2014, the European Union also imposed a ban on Alphonso mangoes because of the same issues as that of the U.S, fortunately, in January 2015, the ban was lifted when some improvements were made.
3. Kent Mango
Kent Mango is the third type of mangoes. It was first cultivated by Leith D. Kent in 1932. Being a crossbreed of Brook and Haden mango. It’s a large fruit, ovoid-shaped although round at the dorsal part. Its Green yellow peel is thick and strong and its pulp is yellow-orange coloured, fibreless and richly flavoured. Usually, kent mangoes weigh between 570-740g.
Many farmers patronize kent mangoes because they are monoembryonic with their seed having a high tendency of sprouting on the tree. Outside of this, some disadvantages dissuade some farmers and marketers. Like they have a poor shelf life and are susceptible to anthracnose.
Kent mangoes are harvested from July to August in Florida and are mainly imported to France from South America and Africa.
4. Ataulfo Mango
Next on the types of mangoes with their commercial value is the Ataulfo Mango. Primarily grown in Mexico, Ataulfo mango is a type of mango best for salad because of its sweet, creamy flavour and bright yellow fiberless pulp.
Unlike Kent Mango, the Ataulfo mango is small and sigmoid in shape. It was named after Ataulfo Morales Gordillo and gained popularity in the United States in the late 1990s being the second most popular variety of mango in the United States.
If you are a marketer of mangoes or you farm ataulfo mango, I will give you candid advice. Go to Europe specifically the UK, it will favour you there especially if it’s high quality.
5. Keitt Mango
Named after Mrs J.N Keitt in 1945, is one of the most popular types of mangoes. It was first cultivated in her house in 1939.
Keitt mango is unique for its flavour, productivity, lack of fibre, and large size. They are ovoid, fibrous, tangy and sweet with monoembryonic seeds. They normally ripen from August to September.
6. Francis Mango
Known for its sweet and spicy taste, Francis mango is one of the popular types of mangoes with high commercial value.
Mainly cultivated all over Haiti and available from May to July, Francis mango has a rich fibrous pulp used for salads, eaten raw and used in chutney.
7. Osteen Mango
Osteen mango, found in Europe since the 2000s is one of the types of mangoes that have high commercial value.
Although not popular like the other varieties, Osteen mangoes form the majority of Spain’s mango production. It is fiberless, firm and juicy. Its peels are dark coloured ranging from violet to purple. It has its origin in Haden seeds in Florida (1935).
8. Haden Mango
Haden mango is the most widely cultivated type of mangoes in the world. In 1910 Captain John J Haden who lived in Florida was the first to cultivate this variety of mango.
Records say that Haden mango is a descendant of Mulgova. Hayden mango was the other of the day till the late 1930s but it fell out of favour because of fungi problems, inconsistent production, and issues with superior virtues.
With its fine fibrous pulp, large size, and bright red coloured peel, Haden mango is purchased and cultivated because of these features and its excellent eating quality.
9. Madame Francique Mango
If you are in the Caribbean, I believe you will be dancing now. Madame Francique’s mango is one of the types of mangoes commercialized in the world. Also known as Desert Mango, Madame Francique mango is a variety of mango available from September to October on the Caribbean island.
Madame Francique mango varies in colour, ranging from green to even orange, and also has a rich sweet spicy taste. Next time you travel from the Caribbean to Nigeria, do me a favour to get me some Madam Francique mango.
10. Glenn Mango
Last and not least among the commercial types of mangoes with high value we have Glenn mango. Named after Roscoe E. Glenn, Glenn Mango was first planted in Florida and produced its first fruit in 1940. Its development took several decades of research to get to what it is today.
This mango is sweet, peachy and rich in flavour. It is oblong-shaped and has a light yellow peel.
Aside from the quality of the fruit, the tree could also be conserved at a considerably small height and width was relatively disease resistant, and usually generated a good-sized yield. Helen mango is said to be a crossbreed of Hagen and Saigon mangoes.
Is African Mango a Super Fruit or an Overhyped Fruit?
African Mango is a mango talked about all over the world because of its medical benefits. African mango is not from the genius as the 10 we listed above, it is from a wild mango called dika from the genius of Irvingia garbonensis. It has many medical potentials but it can’t be classified as a commercial mango.
Why is it not a commercial mango? For a mango to be called a commercial mango there are some factors to be considered, for example, the germination period, the mango must have a fast germination time.
But this African mango is deficient as it takes 15 years for its tree to mature. Making it unsustainable to be called a commercial mango.
Also Read: The Main Types Of Bananas
Conclusion
There are several types of mangoes but only a few have commercial values. In this article, we discussed the top types of mangoes all over the world. Most commercial mangoes are derived from Mangifera Indica species. Alphonso mango is the best mango but Tommy Atkins mango is the most sold all over the world.
We further went forward to clarify the argument about African mango, saying that it is highly rich in potential but can’t be enlisted as a commercial plant now as its tree takes years to mature.
