Raise your hand if you love mangoes, but they’ve always intimidated you! Up until a few weeks ago, I would have raised my hand.

Every time I’ve had mango in a restaurant, I’ve loved it to bits. But I always passed it over in the supermarket – a funny foreign ingredient that I’d never use effectively. How wrong I was!

A lovely box of all sorts of mangoes arrived courtesy of the National Mango Board, and the smell alone led me down the path of google searches galore searching for recipes.

To start off, let’s talk about how easy it is to cut up a mango, once you know how. Watch this quick video for several ways to do it:

We ate plenty of the mangoes simply diced as a side dish to our meals, and then there was that Mango Chicken stir fry that was so good, there was nothing left to photograph.

Staring down the last two mangoes from the case, much like the black bananas hanging out in their own kitchen corner, I knew that I should put them to good use. I decided that mango puree must be a lot like mashed banana, and so adapted the same bread recipe I was already making with the bananas for a second batch of mango bread.

Adding in cardamom and hazelnuts took these mini loaves to a tropical, slightly Indian direction. They’re a wonderful switch up from the standard quick bread picks, and the texture of the mini loaves is delicious.

The next time I make them, I’m going to swap in brown sugar instead of white sugar, because I think mango pairs better with the deeper molasses flavors. I’ve written the recipe below as the bread was made, but I suggest you try it with an equivalent amount of brown sugar instead.

In case you’ve never purchased mangoes for yourself, let’s talk about how to pick them:

• Don’t focus on color. It is not the best indicator of ripeness.
• Squeeze the mango gently. A ripe mango will give slightly.
• Use your experience with produce such as peaches or avocados, which also become softer as they ripen.
• Ripe mangos will sometimes have a fruity aroma at their stem ends.
• The red color that appears on some varieties is not an indicator of ripeness. Always judge by feel.

Information provided by The National Mango Board

You can get more recipes by visiting the National Mango Board website, joining them on Facebook, and following them on Twitter.

Variety is the spice of life, y’all. It’s always awesome to add a new ingredient to your life, and I hope you’re encouraged to try mango at home now too.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a case of Mangoes by the Mango Board. I was not asked to write this post, nor was I compensated for it. All opinions are my own.[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Mini Mango Hazelnut Cardamom Bread – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]