Mango season is well underway, but it’s not uncommon to find the odd unripe mango at the store.
While it may require waiting a little longer, an unripe mango can still be ripened at home and enjoyed in a relatively short time.
To speed things up even more, you can also use a simple at-home method to get your mangoes to the perfect ripeness.
Mangoes should ideally be kept at room temperature and should not be chilled before they soften.
Matthew Rendine, director of merchandising, Baldor Specialty Foods, shared his thoughts in an article on Martha Stewart’s official website.
“Storing mangoes colder than 45 degrees Fahrenheit will have an impact on the flavour of the fruit because the sugars will not develop,” he said.
Unripe mangoes should be kept between 50 to 55 degrees—a fruit basket on the counter is ideal, he said.
Mangoes take approximately five days to ripen at room temperature.
Speeding up ripening
Place the mangoes near a sunny indoor window, as sunlight speeds up ripening, said Desiree Pardo Morales, founder and president of Tropical Fruit Box, an online purveyor of tropical and exotic fruits.
“Another common practice is to place mangoes in a brown paper bag, or in a bag of rice to speed up the ripening process,” she added.
When using the brown bag method, Rendine suggested adding a banana to further speed things up.
Once ripe, mangoes should be kept in the fridge, where they will remain fresh for another five days. If stored whole, they may begin to shrivel over time.
“For convenience, mangoes can be stored already peeled and sliced or cubed in an airtight container,” explained Morales.
