Creative Kitchen: fruit cutting

Summer special

There are many kids who wait for the examinations to end for the year and eagerly wait for the mango season to enjoy. I have spent all my childhood days in Madras ( Now Chennai ). My father had a fancy for cutting mangoes , which I have improvised in later years . I am detailing the art of mango criss-cross cutting with minimum wastage & maximum enjoyment with added fun , which is the theme of this post. As you will see at the end , excepting the seed and the end part of the mango , everything is utilised .

I am using for this post , the Mango Alphonso , available in plenty in Maharashtra.

Alphonso : This is the leading commercial variety of Maharashtra state and one of the choicest varieties of the country. This variety is known by different names in different regions, viz. Badami, Gundu, Khader, Appas, Happus and Kagdi Happus. The fruit of this variety is medium in size, ovate oblique in shape and orange yellow in colour. The fruit quality is excellent and keeping quality is good. It has been found good for canning purpose. It is a mid season variety.

Final Product :

Step 1:

Choose good quality Alphonso mangoes . The fruits should not be soft.

Step 2:

Make 3 slices of each mango as shown with a stainless steel knife. Do not use High Carbon Steel knives as they will react with the mango juice.

Step 3:

Make straight horizontal cuts with a sharp knife . Please ensure that the knife touches the bottom but not touch the skin at intervals of 3 to 4 mm. Do not be in a hurry till you complete all the lines. Repeat this procedure till all the four slices are cut horizontally . Next individually cut the side slices cross wise using the same knife and with the same precaution. The cut pieces appear square.

Step 4:

Holding with both hands, sitting on a comfortable chair , slowly bend the edges and slightly pushing the bottom of the mango side slice upwards. Your patience and skill will be known now.

Step 5:

Now , the seed part of the mango.

Remove the outer skin of seed leaving some small portion of the mango flesh as shown. With small cutters or zig zag scissors or by any other means , you can make your own designs of the peeled skin.

Step 6:

Make small cuts criss-cross on the edges of the seed and with a broad knife transfer the pieces into a small bowl. Use only stainless steel knife and minimum use of hands.

Step 7:

When all the pieces are cut , pour heated and cooled milk over the cut pieces and keep it in Fridge for a while.

You can use a spoon to scoop out the mango flesh. The designer-skin pieces can be swallowed as they are.

Is the minimum wastage ensured ?

Wish you all a happy mango season.

Mallika :

It is from a cross of Neelum x Dashehari. Its fruit is large in size, oblong elliptical and in shape cadmium yellow in colour. Fruit and keeping quality are good. It is a mid season variety.

Today – 26.04.2013 , I could get a piece of Mallika Mango in Bangalore . You can see the thinness of the skin and the shining petals . The fruit is very tasty and enjoyable.

Guava Single stroke de-seeding : You like it ?

Your comments for improvements will be highly appreciated.

I am interested to know more about your blogs and posts.

Rangarajan Ramaswamy Bangalore 16.04.2013 03:30 pm

Color and smell: To pick a good-to-eat pineapple, look for a nice golden hue all around the fruit, especially the base. It is still good and ripe if it has green on the upper portion. Sniff the bottom of the pineapple for a fresh, sweet aroma. Pineapples are sweeter toward the base of the fruit and this is a great indication of how ripe the fruit is.

Perfectly ripe pineapple

Trimming and carving in 7 easy steps:

Step 1: Chop the crown and the stem. Slice the stem as straight and even so it will stand. Preferably use a knife that is broad and flat knife. Do not twist the crown to remove it, slice it as close to the top as possible.

Step 2: Shave the outer skin of the pineapple, till the eyes are from 2 mm-3 mm in diameter. The eyes are skewed in one direction but we will cut along the straight side of the eye.

After One Day

Step 3: Hold the pineapple and cut along the eye’s direction, first from left to right, then right to left, making a “V” and removing the thorns while preserving most of the fruit in the process.