Being a mango cultivator is a fun job, far more than you imagine. You can graft a new kind of mango on an existing mango tree; the male and female chromosomes of two different mangoes can be used to produce a new hybrid; a single mango tree in Malihabad near Lucknow grows 350 different varieties. The mind boggles at all the combinations and permutations possible.

There are 1,200 different varieties in the world, of which about a thousand are found in India, where the mango originated. Mango, India’s national fruit and also Pakistan’s, derives its name from the Malayalam “manna” via Portugese.   

At the recently concluded Mango Festival in New Delhi, mango cultivators, mainly from Uttar Pradesh who own hundreds of acres of orchards, displayed over 400 varieties of mangoes. Very few of these were for sale outside the two air-conditioned halls.  “DO NOT TOUCH,” a signpost warned every few metres.

The mango cultivators won prizes in different categories from Delhi Tourism — best Dashehari, best Chausa, largest mango, and so on.  There was even a mango named Sheila in honour of New Delhi’s Chief Minister.

Here are five great mangoes you probably haven’t heard of even if you are a mango lover.

Yes, that’s the name of the mango. It is the opposite of the Ratols: yellow outside and 1.5 times bigger than your average mango. Sweet and juicy, it is a perfect mango. It was available for sale at the Mango Fest and was easily the most popular mango. The best ones came from the farm of Tariq Mustafa of Muzaffarnagar. Ram Bir Singh Chauhan of Saharanpur claimed his Gulab Jamuns were so juicy your clothes would be drenched, but he was personally more fond of his Gulab Khas which had a hint of rose flavour.

This is an old hybrid mango but has became popular beyond the mango-growing districts only in the last few years. It is reddish, or rather orange-ish in colour even from the inside. Aleemullah Khan, son of the Mango Man of India, Padma Shri Kareemullah Khan of Malihabad near Lucknow, said he’s been seeing Amrapali’s popularity and commercial availability increase over the years.

The Amrapali is a hybrid between Neelam and Dashehari varieties first cultivated in 1972. They took the male parent from the Neelam and the female parent from the Dashehari. The opposite combination of that produced a mango that was so good looking it was called Mallika, whose popularity is hindered by its price.

“Indians buy their mangoes by the smell and taste,” said Dr BK Pandey at the Mango Fest. Dr Pandey is principal scientist at the Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture (CISH) in Lucknow. At CISH they felt an urgent need to produce mangoes that were so red from the outside that most Indians wouldn’t recognise them as mangoes. “We came up with these mangoes keeping the export market in mind, given that abroad the colour is very important and red mangoes are in demand.”

Both Sanskrit names refer to the reddish sky of early dawn. A key difference in these mangoes is that they are not only sweet like other north Indian mangoes, but also acidic. “Mangoes that are sweet and acidic, like the Alphonso, come closer to the taste of mango drinks such as Frooti,” Dr Pandey explained. The institute developed these two varieties; today they are being cultivated by farmers in various states.

Er, well, that should settle the debate between Dashehari and Chausa lovers. While the Dashehari of Malihabad is the best-selling mango of India, Chausa lovers wait the entire mango season to savour their favourite mango. CISH Lucknow tried both male-female combinations to create a cross between the two but only one worked. They haven’t given this one a catchy name yet. One day it may be selling in the market next to your house.
SRC.http://www.firstpost.com/living/five-great-mangoes-you-havent-heard-of-37014.html