Was just reading a Reddit thread about mangos and I recall seeing somewhere on ftc that there was a mango dealer that sells boxes of south Asian mangos any one have info?
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You know what sucks, where I’m from in Canada has a big Indian population and even Walmart sells imported Indian mangoes by the case! With different varietals too!
Wong Farms mangoes are good, but people have no idea what they’re missing out on.
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I’ve ordered once. It was reliable.
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Visit your homeland and bring some back lol!
Alphonso mangos, the high end mangos people in the Indian subcontinent often mean when they talk about mangos, are unbelievably good but have a very short shelf life and season.
In NYC you have to trek over to Jersey to buy the mangos and it’s extremely expensive. Think $8-$15 a mango at the best dealers. These things have to be overnighted on aircraft carefully so they don’t bruise, a lot like prime produce from Japan. A few very high end restaurants even use them seasonally.
I’ve heard stories of SF tech Indians overnighting their mangos from NJ just to get their fix. It’s a whole thing.
Context:
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I would def pay $8-$15 in SoCal…
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Don’t know what the density of Indians is like in LA, but I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find them in SF given the large and deep pocketed diaspora there, and have a friend overnight them for you. They are delicate though so maybe if you have a friend who shuttles between LA and SF often, they could hand carry for you.
NYT article links out to some importers that you can probably order through if you can’t find a local dealer
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The original Samosa House used to import a few cases of alphonsoes every year. Haven’t seen them there in a few years. India Food Mart on Venice has also imported them. In both cases I’d call and ask.
In Artesia, Pioneer Cash & Carry, and Bhanu Indian Cuisine & Market both occasionally import alphonsoes.
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Great info thanks! I live in South Bay maybe some of the Indian or Pakistani groceries here will carry them
I picked up mangos from Omar last year. The were amazing. Very delicate, small but bursting with flavor. He sends you a text of what mango are available each week with pricing. Meet up are in Tustin and Valencia.
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Awesome really appreciate that. I tried to find him on social media with no luck.
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season commences end of may
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You’re running out of time for alphonsos — the first rains have already come to the districts where they grow, which means the season is about to wrap up.
If there are indian grocery stores near you, call and ask when they get their delivery and if you can reserve a case.
There are more imports these days than before (when the “uncles” ran a private system), and even the online grocery store Quickilly has them available in New York right now, though I’m not sure of quality. If you google Alphonso delivery, there are also direct shipments from farms in India — those have worked well for me in the past, and they usually guarantee the fruit quality (as in, if you get a bad one and send them a pic, they’ll refund you for the piece).
If there’s an option, ask if the mangoes are from Devgad or Ratnagiri, which are the two districts that produce the best fruit (marginal differences between them, but no one who hasn’t been eating haphus their whole life would be able to tell).
There are other mangoes, of course, but my family only eats haphus / alphonso. Some people continue to eat Kesar after the alphonso season is done (but those people tend to be from outside the alphonso radius 
).
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