From Marianne: Every Family Has Its Mango 🥭

Every summer of my childhood smelled like mangoes.

We had five mango trees in our backyard in Miami. Whenever a tropical storm rolled through, I knew exactly what the next morning would bring: the ground covered in ripe fruit, waiting to be gathered before I went to school or even had breakfast.

My grandmother Nena, a mango fiend who lived close by, would show up like clockwork. She and I would pick the mangoes together. Hurry, she’d say, before the squirrels get to them. She could tell you exactly what variety you were eating just by tasting it. Considering there are something like 2,000 varieties in the world, I always thought that was a superpower.

I've always said there's only one right way to eat a mango. You have to be at the beach. Slice it open, bite into it and let the juice run down your cheeks and arms and all over your face. Then run straight into the ocean to wash it off. I must have done that often because that image is permanently stored in my brain.

Most of us don't have an ocean in the backyard and thankfully there are a thousand delicious things you can do with a mango. Every summer I have either friends or family who send me a box here in Chicago. I treat them like newborns. I handle them with care. I eat as many as I can, make whatever I can, then peel and freeze the rest so summer lasts a little longer. When someone sends me mangoes, that's what I call real love.

What I've realized is that I don't think I love mangoes as much as I love everything they remind me of. My grandmother, my backyard, the storms, the beach and just being a kid.

I already know the foods my kids connect to home. They're recreating them in their own kitchens right now, including the mangoes whenever available. Not because they were expensive or fancy, but because they came with laughter, tradition, and people they loved.

That's the real recipe we're passing down, because every family has its mango.

Every family has its mango. What's yours? Write to me at hello@savvy-planet.com. — I read every response.