Farm, Uncategorized

RCF ( Mango King & Crespo Organic) Mallika Mangoes

June 2, 2023

An Indian Varietal Grown In Mexico

Thanks to Jorge Crespo (The Crespo Mango Man)  and his passion for all things new,  including new growing challenges, as well as his  desire to  expand the family’s expertise  always being forward thinking (Jorge is much like his father Roberto Crespo Fitch), RCF Distributors has several new specialty varietals that are being introduced in seasons ahead. The Mallika mango is Jorge’s second specialty varietal, after the Keiw Savoy ( Thai Sweet Green Mango). The Mallika is a special mango that has caught the attention of mango loves with its sweeter, more nuanced tropical exotic flavor.

Continue Reading…

Farm, Featured, News

“Little” Fruit Brings Opportunity

May 31, 2023

Crespo mango expertise bridges transition into Summer Mango Mania

 I’ve been selling organic mangoes for a long time and, as so many of us forget, the greatest season-long program success happens when you nail the transitions. It’s the performance during the transition that dictates what stores have fruit and at what price. Just like in music, those connecting notes, the transitions is what leads you to the next phase of the whole. We take the transitions seriously, we get creative and we utilize the partnerships we forget with customers, making it work. Clear communication, more than anything is pivotal for any transitional success, in particular when there are volume supply or quality issues at play. The direct relationships to customers and the nimble work we do together, with the trust of the consumers who fuel our program, make the transitions easier to maneuver through so we can build and grow successful organic Mexican mango programs…. This is what we are known for.

The Crespo’s fully and vertically integrated supply chain and direct-trade selling system is what makes them the mango experts. It’s because of that expertise we will not skip a beat in the final days of the great mango transition, which is when a regional production shift from southern Oaxaca & Chiapas to Northern Nayarit and Sinaloa happens.

Continue Reading…

Featured, News

What the Heck is Summer Mango Mania?

May 11, 2023

Quick answer: #MangoJoy by way of #MuchosMangoes PRICED RIGHT

Summer:  the warmest season of the year, in the northern hemisphere from June to August
Mango: a tropical oval or oblong fruit with succulent and juicy aromatic pulp and firm varying color blush toned skin and a hard central pit
Mania: an excessive enthusiasm or desire; an obsession

 The mango’s popularity is soaring to new heights amongst Americans as they learn what the rest of the world already knew about the most widely consumed fruit globally. It is versatile and delicious and, thanks to the proximity of Mexico and Crespo Organic, priced perfectly at the peak of summertime.

Continue Reading…

Farm, Featured, News

The BIG Transition North

May 3, 2023

Will Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Nayarit line up for a smooth transition?

The nature of transition is tricky. Shifting mango production from the southern Mexican regions to the northern ones is often unpredictable and complex. This year we move into with a great deal of positivity and yet a tinge of trepidation. I think the trepidation is more implanted into all of us because of the last several months or utter unpredictability that resulted in many challenges for the industry.

Transitioning mango production from southern to northern regions in Mexico is often a tricky and complex process. As we embark on this year’s transition, we are filled with positivity, yet there is also a sense of trepidation. The challenges of the past few months have left their mark on the industry, and we all carry a certain level of uncertainty with us.

Last year the transition was brutal, as I reported here- Under The Mango Tree.  We managed but it wasn’t easy or pretty. This year we get a break.

Continue Reading…

Farm, Featured, News

Empaque Don Jorge Opens in Rosario

May 1, 2023

Boasting the most efficient and modern mango pack house around

Disclaimer: This is a boastful and prideful post about a packing house that I truly believe in. I’m one of a few globally well-traveled industry folks with an extremely diverse make up of commodities, markets, cultures and systems. I have seen a lot of packing houses and “sheds” in my travels and none like this one. Boasting this facility and the Crespo family is the natural outcome of my true beliefs.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Empaque Don Jorge (El Original) located in the Crespo’s hometown of Rosario, Sinaloa is now open for the season. It opens, with immediate plans to expand capacity beyond its extraordinary current amplitude. 5 additional stainless steal hot water tanks, 2 additional packing lines and 1 additional washing line are just a few of the augmentations that will further expand Latin America’s largest hydrothermal mango packhouse’s prowess.

It’s opening couldn’t be more needed as we move deeper into this wild and crazy Mexican mango season! Read my latest CROP REPORT for more crop and season expectations/details. For this post, I boast!!

Continue Reading…

Featured, News

Ataulfo Mango Time

April 13, 2023

Shortcutting the promotion of Mexico’s yellow slipper

This is an industry geared post.

Instead of focusing on the lack of the round fruit the orchards are currently yielding into an empty pipeline, a problem that will take a little more time to fix and stabilize; focus on the mango abundance that the orchards are currently giving ~ Ataulfo mangoes!  It’s a great time to either examine and improve your existing organic Ataulfo program or think about implementing one. We have time, quality product and the support you need.

The Crespo Ataulfo program is robust; carpe diem.

The buttery smooth Ataulfo flesh  makes them extremely versatile for cooking  and eating and they are easy to please consumers price wise with  sizing at 12/14/16/18. Not only do we take sizing and quality seriously but we have invested in the consistency of volume necessary to build sales and ongoing national programs. The Crespo Organic seasons starts in late January and moves through the middle to end of August, so its also long one- worthy of some attention, especially as Ataulfos take off as the fastest growing organic varietal among consumers. And especially now as the Tommy’s are scarce and California’s stone fruit late do to the crazy rains. Retailers looking for something promote worthy need to look no further than the Crespo Organic Ataulfo mango!

We have everything that you need for success including price. They go on sale starting next week through Cinco De Mayo 
Download our Interactive Cinco De Mayo #CelebrateMexico #Celebrate Mangoes guide.

Continue Reading…

Culture, Featured, Kitchen, News, People

#CelebrateMexico #CelebrateMangoes

April 5, 2023

The Cinco de Mayo show goes on, despite supply complexities

A single mango goes a long way: in recipes and in creating #MangoJoy for consumers. Mangoes don’t have to be dirt cheap or in heaping abundance for a consumer to feel the sweet tropical satisfaction and joy that comes from eating and using mangoes.

As I previously reported, Easter is the threshold for volume turnaround. For the most part, that is still the case. The main problem is that the Easter packhouse closings intersect with the lowest volume weeks of fruit. This means the low volume weeks we have experienced are bashing up against less fruit and orchard/packhouse shutdowns for a few days. This means next week (the week after Easter) will be the most difficult week for fruit volume fulfillments industry wide.

Oaxaca and Chiapas are a 3-5 day drive to Nogales & McAllen, and fruit has to be picked, packed, and shipped before anyone can get their hands on it. The math is simple and with an already empty(ish) pipeline and unprecedented demand, we anticipate that it will take a few weeks to fill up. This puts us directly into the Cinco De Mayo push, which means we do not expect a “flush” of product until after Cinco De Mayo. But I say that with caution as the timing puts is directly in the beginning of the transition from the southern regions into the Northern ones with the onset of Nayarit Ataulfos. Continue Reading…

Featured, Kitchen

Strawberry Mango Bars

April 4, 2023

 

Here is the perfect early spring easter dessert, really we can’t stop eating it

I adore strawberries. One of my long-standing fantasies is that I will retire in Italy as an organic strawberry farmer. I also fantasize of retiring in Sicily as a mango farmer (believe it or not mangoes grow decently there). This recipe fuses my two fantasies together and I can’t help but feel joy at the heart of this dessert. The combination is sweet and interesting with an ease of complexity.

I love pairing mangoes with strawberries in my recipes because of this flavor camaraderie. This new lemon bar-ish recipe began as a cranberry mango bar in the original idea phase. I am so glad I procrastinated because this spring strawberry version feels more natural and lighter with less sugar use than the cranberries would have called for, thanks to the natural sweetness in mangoes and oranges and my strength in using fruits to sweeten deserts.

Continue Reading…

Featured, News, Secrets & Lies

Hold On Just a Bit……and Then Let Loose

March 28, 2023

Round fruit inflexible for as lower yields and high demand wreak havoc 

When I was a little girl in southern California I used to race my bother on this little honda 50 on my pony Cricket. We would race down this long ass trail next to a creek with all kinds of bends and bumps and even oak branches in our way slapping our faces. Cricket was a fast little pony but in the beginning I used to lose all the time until I learned that I had to hold Cricket’s reins back a little bit on some of the worst turns and bends and bumpy areas; after I learned that move we beat my brother Axel’s ass every time!

These next two weeks are like the bendy turns that Cricket and I learned to race through.

Organic round mango fruit volume will be incredibly inflexible the next 2 weeks followed by a big loosening. This is a tough position, but one that we will transcend and soon forget once normal #MuchosMangoes quantities resume before your tulips bloom.

Continue Reading…

Culture, Featured, Kitchen, News, People

My Equipo’s Recipe for Success

March 22, 2023

 

Those that feast together grow together

Someone recently claimed that recipes have no place in buyer-focused produce marketing. That someone doesn’t know my history with buyers or recipes nor does that person connect the dots between farms and tables, like I do. That someone has probably never witnessed the excitement over the vibrant consumer mango recipes and educational cards boldy worn by the displays of #MuchosMangoes during Crespo Organic Summer Mango Mania, put there by people like Four Seasons Produce’s merchandiser extraordinaire Brian Dey. That someone has likely never tasted the tantalizing Crespo Organic Sinaloa Sauce recipe, the one that I created to pay homage to the Crespo family’s home state of Sinaloa and the habanero and mango connection. No doubt  that someone completely underestimates the power of a good recipe and of food in general.

Food is a connector. When we share food, we get deeper insights into one another. Food builds friendships and mends conflicts. It’s a life necessity and one of the few sensory experiences that we get to share with all other human beings on the planet. Food may just be the most powerful connector there is. It is nourishing and, to partake in it together, nourishes the group. As we bring food into our bodies with others, we become the same. That feeling of sameness relaxes us and creates more openness. Trust, cooperation and growth are born out of openness. A mango recipe shared, seen, cooked, shared again (with consumers) binds us all. I know the power of food and a good recipe.

Continue Reading…

About Me

About Me

Under The Mango Tree is a sweet spot, where I, a long time mango industry crackerjack, share everything I know. A place to find mango centric, agricultural, food and culture knowledge and a few juicy industry secrets and lies.

Find us on Facebook

Follow Me!