Peak ripeness: What’s something that is feeling purely delicious, ripe, messy, and juicy?

How could my answer to this not be mangoes? I had an honest gut reaction to this that was like "oh this is about mangoes." I tried to think and see if I could make this prompt into a listicle, but I couldn't think of 14 other things that are delicious, ripe, messy, and juicy. I could think of some, sure, but the combination of those words just indicates mangoes to me.

Now, I am a relatively recent convert to mangoes. Don't know why I avoided them for so long. I think because I had only had unripe mangoes before. But when I had a ripe mango...oh...my...god! Getting ripe mangoes sometimes requires patience. I often buy mangoes in a four-pack at Trader Joe's, and I try to get a pack with a variety of ripeness. This is because I want to eat one pretty quickly after my shopping trip, but I also want them for the next few days. This is difficult to achieve without being a jerk opening every four back and squeezing every mango (if there is a different way to check for ripeness, please let me know).

Then, I keep the mangoes on my counter, waiting. I'm relatively patient when it comes to waiting for the mangoes to ripen. However, I am not patient when it comes to eating the mangoes. I start off slower, using a spoon to scoop out the ripe fruit. But then, when it comes to the half(ish) of the mango that has the pit, I rip at the peel and scrape the juiciness with my teeth. Sure, I could use a knife to carefully cut up each mango into lovely little cubes (and I have done this when I plan to share) or even just into more sections to carefully remove the pit, but there is something so satisfying about getting every little bit of mango off the pit with your teeth. Sure, this way is very messy, but, to me at least, it's worth it.

The mess of eating a mango can be annoying. You do need a napkin or something to sop up the excess juice smeared around, but, honestly? Who cares? You got to eat a mango, juicy and delicious enough to make such a mess. That's a win in my book.

Now that I am a mango convert, I seek out mango. I bought pure mango juice to make popsicles. I bought frozen mango in the hopes it'd be just as good (it was not good) or that I'd at least make smoothies out of it (instead, I just sought out ripe mangoes). I try mango flavored cocktails. Now, I don't really like dried mango because, to me, that defeats some of the loveliness of mangoes: the juice. While I do like mango juice on its own, the best experience (IMO) is eating a mango at peak ripeness. The juice makes the fruit a delightful texture, almost a custard but a little firmer (a panna cotta? IDK I'm not a dessert expert).

So, I hope you've enjoyed my somewhat unhinged mango rant. What would you have responded for this? How many of you would've said mango?

Now, I should go buy some mangoes...

(Prompt provided by Kimisha Cassidy)

Photo by Deon Black on Unsplash

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