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Fun Facts

Native to India, the sweet mango fruit is at least 4000 years old, with more than 1000 varieties in glorious shapes and colors: from round and oval to yellow, orange, red and green. Poets praised them, Buddhists spent time meditating in the shade of their trees, and dried mango skin and seeds were -- and are -- used to calm coughs. In the same family as the cashew and pistachio, mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines. To tell if it's ripe, give your mango a gentle squeeze. Then eat or drink it -- try a mango lassie, a yummy mango yogurt drink from India.

Star Power

This tasty superfood packs more than 20 vitamins and minerals including A, C, B6, folate, copper, potassium and K. In fact, you can get your daily RDA of vitamin C from one mango. That's good news for the immune system. Potassium keeps blood pressure stable by balancing salt in the blood. Copper is good for healthy cell growth, vitamin A keeps skin glowing, and B6 helps keep energy levels up. Did you know that mango leaves are also stuffed with nutrients and can be boiled into a vitamin-, mineral- and antioxidant-rich tea?

Quick Preps

PREPARE: A mango is ripe when it's just slightly soft when pressed.

1. Always wash the mango before cutting into it.
2. Place the mango stem side down on a cutting board. Place your knife about ¼ inch from the center and cut all the way down through the mango.
3. Flip and repeat on the other side. You now have two mango cheeks! The middle part that is left is mostly the seed.
4. Slice the mango cheeks and cut off the skin.

• Make fruit kabobs with mango, cantaloupe, grapes and oranges.
• Add mango cubes to your salad.
• Make mango salsa and add to your favorite fish or chicken entree.
• Eat cut up mango for a snack.
• Make a mango smoothie with spinach, ice, mango and almond milk.