How to Cut a Mango
Many of us are mango-challenged, which is completely understandable. Mangoes hide a huge, hard, flattened pit inside themselves, making it impossible for a mango to be cut in half like a normal piece of fruit. Ever. But mangoes are easily dealt with using the following technique.
1. set the mango on a cutting board on one of its skinny edges
2. Use a sharp knife to cut just a few millimeters to the side of the stem, if using Ataulfo mangoes (pictured). If using Haden mangoes, you need to be a bit farther from the stem.
3. Cut the whole fat side of the mango off
4. Do this again on the second side. This is a close-up of where you want to cut – just to the side of the stem.
5. This is my fun little mini-game of Mango Elephant Ears. Ahem, only to seriously illustrate how the mango should look after you have cut the sides off. The two elephant ears = pit-free mango parts. The elephant trunk = mostly pit (still useable, see below).
6. Use a paring knife to make evenly-spaced cuts through one of the mango sides. Cut through the flesh, but not through the skin.
7. Turn the mango piece one-quarter-turn and make more evenly-spaced cuts the same as above, which will now make a cross-hatch pattern.
8. Press on the (still intact) mango skin to “pop” the mango open. See? My kids call this a porcupine mango and they like to eat it like this, right off the skin and into their mouths.
9. Use a paring knife to cut the “popped” mango squares into a bowl.
There is still more mango to use! (Especially on an Ataulfo mango). People often suck on the pit at this point (there is no shame in doing that), but you can still get quite a bit of nice mango cubes off the side edges of the pit. Here’s how you do it:
10. Use a paring knife to peel the skin off the edge of the pit.
11. Use a paring knife to cut through the side-flesh down to the pit.
12.Cut the cubes off into the bowl with the rest of the cubes mango.
The Mango Pit
You can do whatever you like with the mango (smoothie, fruit salad, salsa, fish topper?) and feel free to suck on the pit.
Hey Heidi…I just shared this again with another friend. This is such an amazing post…well done.
Allison
3 Cut or peel segments away: At this point you may be able to peel the segments right off of the peel with your fingers. Or, you can use a small paring knife to cut away the pieces from the peel.