From Ratnagiri's Alphonso to Malihabad's Dasheri: where India's best-loved mangoes grow, when they ripen, how they look and taste, and how far each one travels before it reaches Delhi NCR.
India grows more than a thousand kinds of mango. These are the ones you are most likely to meet in a Delhi market between April and August, in the order the season brings them.
Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh
Sold in the north as Safeda, it is usually the first mango of the year in Delhi markets — and one of the best at surviving a long journey.
Ratnagiri, Maharashtra
Named after the Portuguese general Afonso de Albuquerque, it is India's best-known mango abroad and among its most expensive at home.
Junagadh & Gir, Gujarat
Named for the colour of its pulp — kesar is saffron. A favourite for aamras and mango shrikhand preparations.
Murshidabad, West Bengal
Himsagar is Bengal's pride, with one of the shortest seasons for any mango — just a few weeks and it is gone.
Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh
Tota means parrot. Famous for its shape and colour. Much of India's mango pulp, juice and pickle starts as Totapuri.
Malihabad, Uttar Pradesh
Every Dasheri tree descends from one mother tree in Dasheri village, near Kakori, said to be over two hundred years old and still fruiting.
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
The story goes that the first tree grew in the garden of a farmer in Banaras who walked with a limp — langda — and the name stuck.
Bhagalpur, Bihar
Its name comes from zardalu, Persian for apricot — a nod to its pale golden colour. A gift to the country's leaders in Delhi from Bihar.
Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh
A cross of Neelam and Dasheri, bred at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi in 1972. It is also grown in north now.
Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh
It is one of the last varieties grown in south, so it often stays in shops after the early mangoes have gone. Also grown in karnataka.
Uttar Pradesh & Bihar
Named after Chausa in Bihar, where Sher Shah Suri won a battle in 1539 and, the story goes, celebrated with this mango.
Malda & Bhagalpur
One of the last mangoes of the year, it carries the season into August. Similar to Neelam, it closes season in the north.
Journey times are typical for road freight from each variety's main growing region to Azadpur Mandi, Delhi's wholesale fruit market; reaching a shop or doorstep usually takes another day or more. Distances are approximate.
Southern and western mangoes open the season in April; the north takes over in June, and the last fruit of the year arrives in August.
Seasons shift by a week or two with each year's weather. Highlighted rows are the varieties grown at Aamr Vaatika.
A mango keeps softening and sweetening after it is picked, but its flavour develops best on the branch. Fruit that has to travel for days is picked while still firm and green so it survives the trip, then ripened in cartons or ripening rooms near the market.
Fruit grown close to the city can stay on the tree until it is nearly ready. That is why a Dasheri eaten in an orchard tastes different from one that has spent a week on the road.
Our own Dasheri and Langra grow two hours from India Gate, along the national highway — close enough to be picked in the morning and reach homes across Delhi NCR by evening, without cold storage along the way.
A long-distance mango's week, typically
Dasheri, Langra and Jardalu: Aamr Vaatika. Other photographs are from Wikimedia Commons, used under their licences:
Photographs were resized for this page.