FORAGING FRIDAY: MANGO ON A STICK

Foraging Friday documents Kitchen Toro's exploration of New York's diverse restaurants, neighborhoods, stores and their ingredients and flavors.

I'm sure you can find them elsewhere in the city but I've always seen mangoes-on-a-stick just off Union Square. The mangoes are peeled and sliced so that the look like big orange tulips. Several of them are usually peeled and sliced, under plastic on sticks, upright in cardboard. I had never had one until a recent visit.

The mangoes are usually sold by Hispanic women on the corner across the street from the steps in the park, either on the corner where there's a Jamba Juice or South a block across from the church.

I love mangoes, especially when they're cold and not overripe. The fruit has a wonderful consistency, like a firm jello. For a few dollars a mango you've got a choice of eating it with hot sauce and salt or lemon juice, honey or any combination of those ingredients. On this ocassion I had mine with lemon juice, hot sauce and a dash of salt. I probably should have gone wone way or the other, lemon juice or hot sauce and salt. It wasn't as cold as I'd like but it sure was refreshing and as I walked down the street under the summer sun it seemed as though the juices of the fruit would never stop flowing even though I'd eaten it down to the big, flat pit.

If you've never had one, give it a try. As much as I love Mr. Softee, the mango-flower is a cheap, wonderful summer treat.