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The elusive Pakistani mango
By Louisa Chu
 The
legendary Pakistani Chaunsa mango, arguably the best in the
world, landed for the first time in the United States at
O’Hare about two weeks ago, but unless you were among the
mango chosen few, you’ll have to wait until next year to
taste them in Chicago.
None of the initial 2,800 pound shipment made it out to
market. Many were eaten at the Inaugural Ceremony of
Pakistani Mangoes at the Palmer House Grand Ballroom on July
30th. Some were shipped to politicians from City Hall to the
White House.
I checked Madni Mart, a Pakistani grocery in Chicago. Owner
Ali Akbar was not in the store, but his brother Muhammad
Tariq, just helping out, said he hasn’t seen the Chaunsas.
“We’re on Devon. If anybody would have had them we would’ve
known about it,” said Tariq, “Everyone’s been anxiously
waiting for them. They’re the best in the world - no doubt
about it.”
“We might have them next year,” he said, “maybe at the end
of June or July. They have a life of a month only.”
Eventually all Pakistani mangoes will land first in Chicago
then go to a Sioux City, Iowa electron beam irradiation
facility.
Back at the ceremony, a young guest pointed out to me that
the host, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States,
Hussain Haqqani, is actually on Twitter - and “the coolest
ambassador." Haqqani welcomed Chicago’s Pakistani leaders -
CEO’s, doctors, lawyers, engineers - with a mango-centric
menu including shrimp skewers with a spicy mango salsa,
mango cheesecake, mango lassi, mango kulfi, mango ice cream,
and toasted with non-alcoholic mango margaritas and
sparkling mango strawberry sangria.
A four-tier mango showpiece cake - draped in green, white,
and mango colored fondant, with a towering vine of
pastry-chef-made mangoes tumbling artistically off - could
have been the wedding cake of this Pakistani-American mango
marriage arranged to ease diplomatic tensions.
Previously mango fanatics planned entire vacations to Canada
to eat Chaunsas, legal there.
“The most important thing for people to realize (is) that
this is an unprecedented situation,” said Asad Hayauddin,
Consul for Trade and Commerce at the Consulate General of
Pakistan in Chicago to WBEZ’s own Odette Yousef.
Yousef also reported, “Hayauddin began working closely with
US and Pakistani officials three years ago to figure out how
to satisfy regulations set by the US Department of
Agriculture that had long kept the fruits from reaching the
US market. The USDA forbade the import of mangoes for fear
that the fruit would carry pests that might harm US crops.”
“This is the first time in the history of US-Pakistan
commercial or trade relations that perishable commodities
are coming in,” said Hayauddin, “It was a massive team
effort from the top political (level) down, to the
diplomatic representatives, to the technical people on the
ground.”
I asked Madni Mart's Tariq how he eats mangoes. “The
traditional way in Pakistan. We put them in cold water until
they’re chilled, then peel, cut them into slices or small
cubes, and eat with a fork,” he said.
He expects the Chaunsas will sell for $30 to $40 a dozen,
the going rate for Indian Alphonso mangoes, which made their
big debut in 2007, also widely considered the best, not
surprisingly by Indians.
“As the biggest importer of mangoes in the world (with $250
million in mango imports) America was a ripe market for the
Pakistani mango, Ambassador Haqqani said to the Tribune’s
Monica Eng.
While you no longer need to try to smuggle Chaunsas into
this country, I did smuggle a few out of the ceremony.
They’ve been ripening in my kitchen for over a week now -
some might say over ripening. I left them out on the counter
until I could smell perfume from their stem end. The first
one I ate by simply biting into it like an apple, sucking
the escaping juices, peeling back the skin with my teeth,
until I reached the soft golden flesh. It was almost too
sweet, with a texture like custard, and held a faint yet
deep, musky aroma. There was no tartness or citrus notes as
found in some other mangoes.
There are over 1,000 different mangoes around the world.
Mango aficionados may argue the merits of Chaunsas versus
Alphonsos and them some, but it’s like, in a way, comparing
apple to oranges.
Courtesy: The DAWN |
