Straggling Ugly Mangoes & The First Summer Mango Mania Displays
As of this weekend, all packinghouses in Oaxaca and Chiapas have shut down for the season. The last batch of round mangoes was shipped out of our packinghouse, Bola de Oro, last Friday. The final shipment of Oaxacan Ataulfo mangoes had occurred about a week earlier. Thetransition from south to north appeared “fine,” but, as I have mentioned before, it was actually a challenging shift. These changes in regional volumes are often difficult, particularly on the organic side of things, which is my primary focus, from where I sit, under my mango tree.
The yin and yang of seasonal rains, an abundance of complexities
Someone asked me recently why I haven’t posted anything under my Secrets & Lies category for a while. Most of the truth of my answer was I forgot about it. But buried in that answer is also, I (like everyone) sometimes don’t like to talk about the truth because its complex and I fear people won’t understand, will take it the wrong way or use it against me. When you also speak on behalf of a brand or a big mango system, it can be frightening to put out hard truths.
The lack of communicating existing or potential quality problems is one of the biggest industry secrets and lies there is, as if burying these truths helps anyone. So here I am being the risktaker/bettermaker that I am. Here to not alarm us, but put us into a proactive stance, where information is the key to the successful remainder of the Mexican mango season.
We have been in the midst of a serious drought that has brought a multitude of complexities to the entire Mexican mango season thus far. Those complexities seem likely to continue as seasonal rains have started, pounding the current Sinaloa growing sub regions (around El Rosario and Esquinapa) with lots of water over the last few weeks.
While it’s true that any amount of rain always brings some drought relief, it can also bring with other problems, especially when the pendulum swings to totally to the other side as it has going from no rain to lots at once.
