Summers are intertwined with a number of difficulties – unbearable heat to dust storms and allergies. But the silver lining is the opportunity to savour a large variety of mangoes and reap the benefits.

We all have our favourite varieties and the more exotic ones are known to inspire fierce loyalties. Oldtimers recount a heated debate between the late Gobind Ballabh Pant and Maulana Azad in the presence of Nehru — that great connoisseur of mangoes — over the respective merits of Dussehri and Langda.

What we are blissfully unaware of is that many countries have their own varieties of mangoes and altogether there are around 300 varieties of mango available globally.

These days it is almost next to impossible to find any exotic varieties of mangoes, which has been allowed to ripen naturally. Commercial interests have destroyed the experience of savouring exotic mangoes. Today, we generally get to sample artificially ripened mangoes that have been exposed to chemicals such as calcium carbide. This considerably diminishes the genuine tanginess in the taste of mangoes.

Over a period, the desi varieties — India has been home to over a 100 – has disappeared, depriving us from the nutritional values. Anecdotal evidence indicates that this fact has merit. In different regions of the country, where the desi varieties were easily and abundantly available, there have been few instances of night blindness.

This is primarily because these mangoes provide high quality Vitamin A (over 2,700 micrograms of Betacarotene) — which brings me to the nutritional advantages of from mangoes.

... contd.