Do you want to know what the most expensive mango is? It is the Miyazaki mango. It is a special kind of mango that only grows in one place in Japan. But why does it cost so much? About $50 for one, or $4,000 at some places. Keep reading to find out!
What are Miyazaki Mangoes?
Miyazaki mangoes are mangos that grow in the Miyazaki area near the bottom of Kyushu Island. This place in Japan is good for growing fruits, like lychees and kumquats. This is because it has warm weather, a lot of sun, and enough rain.
A Miyazaki mango is also called “egg of the sun” or Taiyo-no-Tomago in Japanese. It is big and heavy, at least 350g. And it has a beautiful color, like a dark red or purple. It looks like a dragon’s egg. When you cut it open, the inside is very sweet, yellow, soft, juicy, and smells good. It does not have a lot of strings. When you eat it, it feels like it melts in your mouth!
But not all Miyazaki mangoes can be called Taiyo no Tamago. They have to meet some rules:
- Be very red with little or no yellow or green
- Have no spots or marks
- Be over 350 grams or 12.35 ounces
- Be very sweet, with 15 percent or more sugar
- Be very big, bigger than 2L size
After a mango is picked, checked, and called Taiyo no Tamago, it will be sold at Miyazaki Central Wholesale Market. There, people from fancy stores buy them for almost $4000. The Taiyo no Tamago will then be shown and sold to people in those stores.
Where are Miyazaki Mangoes from?
You might be surprised, but the Miyazaki mango is a new kind of fruit. It comes from a ‘Irwin’ mango kind that was made in Florida in the 1940s; you can buy the same fruits in the United States for just a few dollars each.
More exactly, the Irwin kind was found in 1949 and spread around the world from Florida. It is where the Miyazaki mangoes come from, and they are also grown in Australia, Taiwan and Japan.
Irwin mangoes are oval, medium-sized, and usually change from yellow to red when they are ripe. This is different from other kinds that you can find in stores in the US and Europe like the Haden mango (big, oval-round, and red with green and yellow) or the Atalfo mango (small, bean-shaped, and yellow).
When the Irwin mango came to Japan, some Japanese farmers started growing Miyazaki mangoes in the 1980s learned that the fruits tasted different depending on how they were picked. These mangoes became famous all over the world after many people liked them.
How to grow Miyazaki Mangoes?
Miyazaki mangoes only grow in Miyazaki city, in the south of Japan. It is a place that grows many fruits, like lychee and kumquat, but Miyazaki’s weather, soil, sun, and heat are very good for these mangoes.
But Miyazaki mangoes are not grown outside in the open. The mango trees are kept inside houses with glass walls and roofs with the right temperature all the time to make the best fruit.
Farmers have to make choices early when the fruit is growing. To help the chosen fruit grow bigger and get all the good stuff from the plant, about 80% of the other fruits are cut off from the branch.
Each fruit is covered with a net when it is small and tied to a wire hanging from the top of the house. This helps because it holds their weight, and also helps because hanging each mango alone makes them their special color.
They become a dark red in the Miyazaki sun, and mirrors under the fruit help to make sure that the color is the same everywhere.
Mangoes are only picked when they fall from trees by themselves, not when farmers take them by hand, and the netting helps to catch them softly.
The mangoes are sure to have their special sweet and soft taste this way, but they still have to pass some checks and tests before they are sold and sent to make sure that they are the right weight, size, shape, and sweetness.
Why are Miyazaki Mangoes different?
For sure, compared to other kinds of mangoes, the Miyazaki mango is sweeter, bigger, and darker. But what really makes them cost more is how much care and work the farmers put into their mangoes.
Miyazaki mangoes are best between April and August. The best mangoes are picked and then sent to a place where big buyers pay for them. The normal price of a mango is $50, but at some places, one fruit has sold for $2000!
What do Miyazaki mangoes taste like?
I have not tasted them myself, I can only tell you what people say online. But most people agree that the inside of the Miyazaki mangoes is very juicy, sweet, soft, and not stringy like some Green Mangoes might be.
You can cut and peel Miyazaki mangoes easily, because each Miyazaki mango sold is ready to eat and fell from the tree by itself.
What are the best Miyazaki Mango Snack?
If you can’t find the real mangoes, don’t worry, there are many snacks for you to try. They are all made with some real Miyazaki mangoes and yummy. We suggest these ones.
Miyazaki Mango Langue de Chat
Miyazaki Mango Langue de Chat is a snack with two pieces of cookie and mango chocolate in between. The cookie has jam made with Miyazaki mangoes cooked for a long time.
The chocolate also has Miyazaki mangoes, so when you eat it, you taste the sweet, soft mango chocolate and the smell of tropical mangoes. It is a snack that reminds you of Miyazaki island, with its blue sky, blue sea, and bright sun.
Miyazaki mangoes are good quality mangoes grown in a warm place with good skills. They have smooth flesh with little strings, nice smell, and rich, sweet taste that melts in your mouth.
The jam in the cookie is made from mashed Miyazaki mangoes, with the seeds taken out one by one by hand and then mashed and cooked.
Miyazaki Mango Ring Cake
One of the best snacks from Miyazaki is the “Miyazaki Mango Ring Cake”. It is made with the help of local mango farmers in Aoshima. The cake uses mangoes that are not good enough to sell as fruits, but are still very good. The mangoes are mashed and mixed with the cake batter.
The cake is soft and wet, and melts in your mouth. You can smell and taste the ripe mangoes, and the sweet caramel sauce that goes with the mangoes is very good.
The box of the cake also looks nice, and makes a good gift for someone. You can only buy this cake at “Roadside Station Phoenix”, so get it when you can.
Miyazaki Mango Cream Roll
This one is a thin and crunchy pastry with a light feel. The cream is made from Miyazaki mangoes, and tastes like mango. Each box has many rolls, and makes a good gift too!
Miyazaki Mango Daifuku
This Miyazaki Mango Daifuku is made by a Japanese sweet maker that makes 1 million Daifuku per year in Miyazaki City. They care about making the taste and smell of the Miyazaki mango right.
They also care about making the sweet clean and safe. In the middle of the soft daifuku is a lot of Miyazaki mango jam from Nagatomo Farm in Miyazaki City, which is famous for its fruit jam.
The jam is covered with a mango bean paste made from alphonso mangoes. Daifuku is very popular in Miyazaki, where people say, “It’s like eating a mango without any jam.
Nangoku Pudding
Nangoku Pudding is a pudding shop in Miyazaki City, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan (run by Nangoku CBF Co., Ltd.; Boss: Tomomasa Kono), that sells all over Japan.
It’s a simple pudding using the best things; the tastes are very nice.
Nangoku Pudding” is a pudding that shows Miyazaki’s old style from 1965, when the city was a place for couples to go, and is a kind of sweet from that time.
Where to try Miyazaki Mangoes
Miyazaki mangoes are not usually bought and eaten every day. In Japan, people like to give gifts, and expensive fruits like these are often given to show respect or make deals. Because of this, the mangoes are wrapped very well in nice boxes with soft padding, making them a perfect gift.
There are a few ways to eat a Miyazaki mango if you find one in the US. Cut through the middle of the mango near the stem. Cut four equal pieces and turn them over so you can see the flesh. Cut lines both ways, so the squares open up. Then take a bite of one of these famous mangoes.