Are Mangoes Supposed to be Refrigerated?

are mangoes supposed to be refrigerated

Mango is truly a premium fruit. Considered by many to be a superfood, mangoes are absolutely loaded with nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. In some parts of the world, mangoes are known as the king of the fruits.

You’re not supposed to put mangoes in the refrigerator, at least not if you can help it. Once they are ripe, you’re free to put them in the fridge if you want to. You aren’t supposed to refrigerate fruits that are considered to be tropical. 

For reasons that would take more than a single article to break down, tropical fruits are highly susceptible to chill and not in a good way. Now, that doesn’t mean that a mango can never go into a fridge but it does mean there is a specific time when its better.

Storing Mangoes

When it comes to certain fruit pairings, you should never store your mangoes next to fruit that emits a lot of ethylene. Bananas are one such fruit and if you lay your mangoes next to a cluster of bananas, the ethylene emitted from the bananas will hasten the ripening effect of the mangoes.

Now, its perfectly fine if you are excited to eat some mangoes and you want to ripen them up as quickly as possible but if you’re looking for the long-term, you want to separate mangoes from ethylene-emitting fruit so they will last longer.

How to Know When Your Mangoes are Ripe?

Not everyone is familiar with mangoes, especially since it is not a fruit that’s indigenous to the United States or the UK. Looking at one, they are generally a bright orange that fades into red or vice versa. In other words, they look ripe right off the shelf.

The truth is, that bright red and orange aesthetic is generally the tell-tale sign that the mango is ripe. Green mangoes are the ones you don’t want to cut into just yet. You should wait for them to change into those bright yellow, orange, and red colors.

Storing Unripe Mangoes

If your mango is still green or greenish in color, don’t place it in the refrigerator or do anything other than leave it the fruit bowl or up on the counter until it gets to the right color. Room temperature is the best storage temperature for mangoes that aren’t quite ripe yet.

Once they are completely ripe at room temperature, you can then make the decision to place them in the fridge or allow them to continue to ripen. If you want to expedite the ripening process, toss some bananas in the fruit bowl as well. The Ethylene emissions will ripen the mango up in a hurry.

Storing Ripe Mangoes

Once your mangoes are ripe (assuming you’re not ready to eat them yet), throw them in the fridge. Although mangoes don’t deal well in chilly temperatures, they ripening process is already done, so all the chilled temperatures will do is drastically slow down the process.

In other words, you will get a lot more longevity out of mangoes that are ripe and sitting in the fridge than you will mangoes on the counter or in the fruit bowl. Its especially nice if you have a ton of mangoes and you don’t want any to go to waste. Place them all in the fridge and only remove one or two when you’re ready to eat.

Can You Freeze Your Mangoes?

Everything involving temperature and mangoes revolves around whether or not the mangoes are ripe. If its ripe, you can refrigerate or freeze it. If it isn’t ripe, you should do none of the above.

You can definitely freeze mangoes once they are ripe and you can freeze them whether they are whole, sliced up, diced up, pureed, or any way you want to prepare a mango. Freezing it whole is doable but not necessarily the best way to go about it.

Like you would with kiwi and other fruits that don’t turn out well when frozen, cut the mango into slices or dice it up. Then place the slices on a baking sheet that’s covered in aluminum foil or wax paper (some non-stick surface that isn’t plastic).

Once the pieces are completely frozen, remove them from the freezer and put them in a Ziploc bag or Tupperware container. Bags are best because it allows you to squeeze the air out of them and you don’t want air trapped inside the bag with the mango slices.

Air that’s trapped inside has moisture in it damages the fruit over time. When it comes time to thaw the pieces, make sure its a slow process. You don’t want to throw them in the defrost setting of your microwave.

Frozen mangoes that are later thawed will be slightly softer in texture than fresh mangoes that you eat immediately after cutting up. That doesn’t meant they are going bad. The freezing and thawing process just changes the texture to a small degree.

Some may appreciate the different texture and some might not—it just depends on your tastes as far as mangoes go.

The following articles might be of interest to you Should You Store Raw Fish In A Refrigerator?

All Things Considered

You can refrigerate mangoes or you can freeze them but the key is to wait until they are ripe before you do so. Freezing or refrigerating mangoes before they are ripe changes the flavor and texture in a bad way. Plus, the mangoes will never get ripe that way.

References

(January 7, 2019). Mangoes don’t belong in the fridge: The fruit hacks you need to know this summer

Retrieved from: https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2016/12/20/mangoes-dont-belong-fridge-fruit-hacks-you-need-know-summer

(May 20, 2022). Can Mangoes Go In The Fridge?

Retrieved from: https://testfoodkitchen.com/can-mangoes-go-in-the-fridge/

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