While everyone has tasted Dussehri, Langda, Alphonso or even Chausa, there is a wide variety of rare and relatively unknown mangoes that Delhiites can dig into at a festival being held in the city. By Team Viva
Can you name the mango which answers to the description of sweet, large and rare? And by rare it means there are just two trees in one district where it grows. Another hint, cut it and it melts like ice. The answer is Mishrikant.
Another one coming your way. A mango that looks like an apple and is thin-skinned, fibreless, carries a golden hue, pleasant aroma and unparalleled sweetness. The name is Asudagi.
With more than 1,500 varieties of mangoes in the country where about a 1,000 are grown commercially, it is not surprising that one tends to get foxed by the seemingly finer details and nuances of each one.
Drooling already? Just land up in the vicinity of the Bengal Mango Mela which is being held at the Handloom Haat at Janpath and nose your way to your kind of aroma. The seventh edition of the festival, which ends on June 30, has been put up to showcase some of the rare ones that can be found in the eastern state. This year different varieties of the king of fruits from Malda, Murshidabad and Bankura districts of Bengal are being displayed here.
Mishrikant: A leading rare one
What is rare one may ask? As rare as having just two trees in a district. So Mishrikant can certainly be classified as the leading ‘rare’ variety from Malda district. It is then certainly not surprising that people queued up for it, so much so that by fifth day of the festival, the sellers had run out of the variety even when it was being sold for Rs 200 per kg as compared with Himsagar and Lakkhanbhog which are being sold at Rs 120. “This variety is at risk of extinction following suit of other ones that we have lost. Mishrikant, when cut and placed on a plate melts like ice,” says Uday Mandal, an orchardist from Malda.
It is also referred to as chhucha for its large size and smell, since it has a taste similar to the Khirsapat mango. “It is famous for its sweetness and has a distinct aroma. The fruit needs time to grow and ripens late in the season,” he says.
Asudagi: The most attractive one
An orchardist from the district, Ashutosh Mandal, says, “Asudagi, a thin-skinned mango, is characterised by complete absence of fibre, a golden hue with a pleasant aroma and unparalleled sweetness. It is only cultivated in Malda district of West Bengal.”
Dev Narayan Ghosh, a 55-year-old, who comes from a long line of mango farmers, claims that he has won contests for both the most attractive and heaviest mango for 11 years running and is certain of picking up some prizes this year too. “I am the only seller of Asudagi, an apple-shaped mango with attractive reddish-yellow skin colour which is very sweet, pulpy and fibreless. It is one of the rarest varieties of mango with only ‘one’ tree in the entire district. The soil which is required for its production is rarely found anywhere outside Bengal,” says he.
Samsonn Green, a British resident of Delhi, and a mango lover, shares that he is attending the festival for the fifth consecutive year since he shifted to India. He says, “I have tried almost 30 to 40 different types of mangoes. My wife is fond of Asudagi mango and often uses it to make lassi.” Before the season ends, she pours blended mango into an ice tray to make ice-creams. “It sustains us for the next three months,” adds he.
The two varieties, Asudhagi and Mishrikant, have registered sales worth more than Rs 1,20,000 in just five days. Last year many people tasted the fruit and returned this year enamoured by the taste.
Amrapali: New, special and organic
While Malda and Murshidabad have plantations that are more than 150 years old, the Bankura orchards are much younger and popular for Amrapali mangoes with their ochre-coloured flesh, less fibre and high sugar content. The Minister for Food Processing Industries and Horticulture of West Bengal introduced the new Amrapali, a new mango variety in Kolkata in 2015.
“Unlike our earlier plantations, we use ‘organic manure’ while growing it. The vibrant green mango skin indicates that the produce is bereft of any chemicals,” says Haradhan Mandal, an orchardist from Bankura. Developed with the help from the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya, this new variety is a huge hit among mango lovers.
“Amrapali will become as popular as the Alphonso, which has a fan-following overseas,” says a Delhi-based geneticist, Kamlesh Kumar. “This is a hybrid variety of popular Dussehri. The sweetness is at 25 Brics (unit for measuring the degree of sweetness) and it is non-fibrous. These varieties can be grown in small places and do not require much space,” explains he.
However, these varieties were not developed fortuitously but by multiple methods and techniques. Kamlesh continues, “It takes several years to come up with this hybrid variety. It is uncertain and the tree will take its own time to bear fruits. The pulp of the mango is deep orange-red and has several health benefits.”
Mango Man
Naveen Kannoujia, a Delhi-based traveller, came to showcase his self-created new variety of mango. He has turned his terrace into a mini-orchard and grows 12 different varieties.
One of his creations is called Himayat, which he had cultivated 18 years ago. “It is a breed of Dussehri and contains 45 per cent sugar. While you can get other mangoes and their plants in the market, you can get Himayat only at my house,” he proudly claims.
Along with mangoes, Naveen has successfully grown different varieties of orchids as well. For all his plants he uses the basic nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium fertiliser. He has two groups of bees on either side of his terrace, on which he depends for pollination. “I do my part and then let the nature to do its work perfectly,” adds he.
Photo: Pankaj Kumar