I think we have enough talking. It is time to choose and act.

[Everyone is a cook in Thailand. Everyone cooks some dishes very well. Just about everyone has her/his own recipes for some common dishes like omelette (or omelet ไข่เจียว), chilli dip (น้ำพริก), and curry ([car ree] แกง).]

This summer at our place, our 50 year old mango trees produce a good crop of mangoes. Bats, parrots, possoms and rats all enjoy our mangoes. Because we don't spray poisons on our trees. Some nights they eat, damage and drop more than 30 mangoes. We can only eat 2 or 3 mangoes a day. We also have other fruits like bananas (บันนาน่า สื), grapes (เกรบ ปืสื), avocados (อะโวคาโดสื), apples (แอป เปิลสื), pears (แพ รืสื) and water melons (วอเตอร์ เมล อืนสื).

What can we do with this glut (กลัท) of mangoes?
Shall we leave them to bats, birds, possoms and rats?
We have to go and pick up the left-over fruits and seeds and bury or burn them otherwise we can have a fruit-fly outbreak on our hand.
Shall we pick them and eat them?
We can't and shouldn't eat that many.
Shall we sell them?
That's not easy where we live. We can't compete with big growers on price or transport to markets.

Shall we give them to neighbours? Not really. We are countryfolks. We all grow mangoes and other things we need. We don't go to town or supermarkets often. Maybe once a week for petrol and odd things.

Shall we preserve them for other time?
We can peel, cut and dry them in the Sun. But lately we have showers and rains day after day. To dry them in an oven or a dryer may not be a good choice energywise.
We can freeze them. Well, we have tried that before. Mango icicles taste great on hot days but we have problems eating all fresh fruits in Summer. So, we won't eat frozen fruits in Summer. We don't like frozen fruits in colder days either.

We can pickle them in salt and sugar solution. But we don't have sterilized equipment and place. So we would have to use chemicals like sodium metabisulphite or acids like ascorbic acid or vinegar to prevent harmful bacteria and fungi from growing on the mangoes in fermenting vats. Furthermore, once the pickle is ready, we then have lot of pickle solution to get rid of. It would be environmentally irresponsible to pour the pickle water on the ground or to pour it down a drain somewhere. Salt is not good for trees, lands or rivers. We don't like pickles anyway.

We can make mango jam or mango chutney (ชัทนี่) or mango sauce or mango chilli dip (น้ำพริกมะม่วง). That can be fun and we can use these in quick meals - leftover rice with omelette and fresh (สด) or blanched (ลวก) vegetables. We have some empty glass bottles and empty shelves in the pantry.

I think we have enough talking. It is time to choose and act. I think I will make some mango chilli dip. So, I should get to it before the mangoes are ripe.

[Dear Readers:

Have you other ideas or recipes for mangoes - green or ripe. If you like to share with us, we can all learn to do more or different things. The mango season in Thailand is just around the corner ;-) ]