If you've never tried pitting or peeling a mango, take my word that it is a slimy, slippery and messy process. Unless, of course, you know a few tricks. You'll find a plethora of methods for cutting a mango, but after trying them all, I find this method on how to peel a mango one is the cleanest and quickest. Peeling a mango with a vegetable peeler, while doable, is an extremely messy process. The peeled part becomes so slippery that it becomes hard to stabilize the fruit with your hand while you peel the rest. Instead, we score the fruit and then use a knife to slice the skin off. You may wonder: why can't I just bite into the mango and eat both the skin and fruit?
First of all – have you tasted the skin? That question will quickly diminish if you so much as lick your fingers after peeling a mango and handling the skin. Second – the skin and sap from mangos contains the same chemical found in poison ivy, so unless you want your tongue and mouth to break out in itchy hives, I'd stick to peeling it.
Because the seed of a mango is huge compared to most fruits, it is difficult to navigate your knife around it without losing a lot of the sweet flesh. It's a flat oblong shape and runs right down the middle of the fruit, so the goal is to cut on each side of the seed and separate the fruit from the seed. It's not as easy as pitting an avocado or a peach though, where you can cut around the whole fruit and then twist to release it from the pit. It's doable with a knife and some practice, but I have to say that this little gadget from OXO has been a lifesaver (and mango saver!) for the past couple of years. Before I got this, my cutting board always looked like an orange mango massacre. The seed always had flesh left on it and I would attempt to whittle away at it with my knife so not to lose any of the sweet fruit.
What You'll Need:
- Pairing knife
- OXO Mango Slicer (optional)
- Cutting Board
Enjoy!
*this gadget works best on standard sized mango and will not work quite as well on the smaller variety like Manila.
Cindy
Genius! I just ordered my mango slicer. You are amazing! Really… I am amazed at so many of your posts. Thanks for your delicious recipes, ideas and tips. You’ve been such a big part of our enjoying our new “grain free” eating.
Marla Sarris
This is how I slice mangos too, minus the use of Oxo product. 🙂 It’s always fun to see others doing what I do. 🙂
I always question the use of purchasing products that I can just use a knife to do but that product looks like it cuts pretty close to the seed. That would take all the fun out of eating the little pieces the knife doesn’t get. 😉 No but this is a great review of the product, thanks for sharing! I just may add that Oxo slicer to my wishlist. 🙂
Catherine
Wow! Thank you! Our family loves fresh mango. Your method looks less messy too!
Caralyn @ glutenfreehappytummy
what a neat tool! great post!