There is no substitute for a truly ripe mango. The juice starts running down your hands as soon as you make the first slice, and you'll find yourself wanting to lick the bowl when the last piece is gone. Here's the best way to slice a mango for fruit salads, salsas, or eating straight from the skin.
The trick to cutting a mango is working around the large, flat seed that runs down the middle. It's nearly the same size as the fruit itself, and most of the fruit flesh is in the domed "cheeks" on either side of this seed. The best approach is to cut off the cheeks and then trim any remaining fruit flesh from the seed itself.
Choose heavy mangoes that give slightly when you press the area around the stem. Skin color varies by variety and isn't necessarily an indicator of ripeness, but look for mangos that have smooth skin with no blemishes. If the mango is still hard, let it ripen for a few days on the counter before eating.
What You Need
Ingredients
1 or more ripe mangoes
Equipment
Chef knife
Paring knife
Bowl
Instructions
1. Cut off the mango "cheeks" - Hold the mango upright on the counter with your fingertips. Position your chef knife to one side of the center stem and slice straight down, hugging the flat of the seed as closely as possible. If you hit the edge of the seed as soon as you start to cut, remove your knife and rotate the mango 90-degrees.
Turn the mango and slice off the other "cheek." You will have two big pieces of mango and the flat seed.
2. Dice the mango - Hold one of the mango pieces in the palm of your hand or upright on the cutting board. Using your paring knife, make long cuts down the length of the mango without slicing through the skin. Repeat with perpendicular cuts to form cubes.
3. Turn the mango inside out - Gently press the back of the mango to invert the fruit. Use your paring knife to gently pry or slice the cubes away from the skin and into the bowl. Repeat steps two and three with the other half of the mango.
4. Trim fruit from the seed - With the seed flat on the cutting board, cut around the seed to remove any remaining mango flesh. Cube the fruit without cutting through the skin and then pry or slice the cubes away from the skin.
5. Sliced mango will keep refrigerated for several days or can be frozen for up to three months.
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(Images: Emma Christensen)
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I do it this way but skin the whole thing first. That way I can get a proper dice. Be careful, it's slippery!
This works even better with Manila Mangos - the large ones above you do lose a little bit of meat, but the smaller manila mangos are PERFECT when cut that way. Reminds me of breakfast in Tulum. Sigh.
Having grown up eating mangoes all summer long, I guess it never occurred to me that some folks might need a tutorial. While mangoes like the one pictured above are good, given the option, I always try to buy ataulfo, AKA Filipino or champagne, mangoes. They're much sweeter and less fibrous; you can cut them in much the same way.
Anyway, you can also do slices this way, just don't do a "crosshatch" cut to dice. And despite Jess13's comment, I'd really caution against peeling them first -- it's just asking to cut yourself.
I'd also add that mango puree is lovely when added to yogurt or pretty much anything else -- just throw your diced mango in the food process or blender (or just use a stick blender like I do). My baby boy loves eating mango with yogurt, mashed bananas and avocado.
The puree is super easy to store in the freezer, too. Just pour into an ice cube tray, freeze and put the cubes in a bag, or use a freezer-safe container. I bought some freezer jam jars on clearance at the end of last summer and found them perfect for baby food since my son is a hungry boy and goes through those big jars pretty quickly.
I ate a mango for breakfast. This guide would have been very helpful a few hours ago when I was whacking away at that slippery little bugger!
This is also how I cut my avocados!
OXO makes a mango splitter that separates the "cheeks" for you and gets close to the seed. It's really handy to use, and you tend to waste less of the fruit this way. Great buy if you eat a lot of mangos. I love mine!
http://www.oxo.com/p-465-mango-splitter.aspx
I use the OXO mango splitter and then a Progressive International large (orange-colored) plastic fruit scoop. Fast, safe, and easy.
It helps to slice a tiny bit off the bottom of the mango before using the splitter, so that the mango will stand upright on the cutting board.
Another Gal on the Oxo Mango slicer bandwagon, less fruit loss and so much easier, then slice and *Pop* Breakfast time
I saw someone cut a mango this way years ago and since then I've never done it any other way!
Instead of cutting each cube out, i simply use a big spoon to scoop the meat/pulp out. much faster...
This is what I keep reading you should do but I just don't get why people "crosshatch" it. After cutting close to the seed I just use a thin spoon to scoop out the yummy part and then I can slice it or dice it however (or a mix: slice for me dice for my toddler) I want. No waste no risk of cutting through the skin with too much pressure. Make it easy and just scoop it out like an avocado!!
Just as a heads up, I learned a few months ago (unfortunately from personal experience) that mango skins contain Urushiol, which is the same toxin that causes contact dermatitis in Poison Ivy and other similar plants. More information can be found on the web, but i HIGHLY recommend NOT eating the mango straight off the skin. I wound up with a pretty icky looking rash across my face and hands.
The mango fruit contains urushiol, an oily substance present in the sap and the peel of the fruit. This oil causes skin irritation and allergy in some individuals. Typical allergies common to mango consumption are skin irritation around the mouth, swelling of the lip, blister formation and severe itching.
I found out the HARD way! My face and lips were swollen for days.
The porcupine method has never worked right for me.
I slice off the lobes and the skinny sides, then cut the lobes into three or four long strips, flip them skin-side to the cutting board and skin them like you would a side of fresh fish.
Much easier to get evenly sized pieces.
Generally, I peel green or unripe mangoes first before separating the cheeks from the seed. Then I either cut the mango into strips (like crudites) or dice them up. I cut ripe mangoes the same way as above, except I skip the dicing bit and just spoon the the fruit out of the skin.
I adore my mom's green mango salsa, which is basically diced unripe mangoes with diced red onion, diced tomatoes and shrimp paste.
After using the dice-and-scoop method for many (15+) years, I'm now in the "scoop it out first" camp mentioned by several of the posters. Let's me get every last bit of pulp, right up to the skin. BUT!!! if someone's going to dice first, absolutely do NOT dice while holding the mango in your hand, that's an invitation to disaster. Put the slippery delicious thing on a cutting board, please.