Why not let the mangoes ripen on the trees? Why take them off as soon as they reach the right size? In many cases it is not even allowed for that to happen. Those raw mangoes or kairis have their own place of honour on the dining table in the form of chutney, preserves or pickles to have on the side.

It is believed by farmers that taking the fruit off trees as soon as possible unburdens the trees and allows them to grow foliage. Also, better to get to the fruit before the unwanted urchins looming around the trees. Beating the branches, poking at the fruit with sticks, they can be as harmful as the many pests. But the pest can be handled by spraying pesticides, you can't do much about the kids.

So the mangoes are taken off the trees. And when the demand grows before the fruit is ready, Calcium Carbide does the trick and the fruit market is suddenly full of an assortment of mango types. At home, people have their own ways of evenly ripening the mangoes by burying them in canisters of flour or rice. Some even wrap them up in a blanket and store in a cupboard.

En route to the National Mango and Summer Fruit Festival in Mirpurkhas, one starts noticing trees laden with mangoes as soon as one passes Hyderabad. Though we are only familiar with the Sindhri, Langra, Anwar Ratole, Chaunsa and Dussehri mangoes, at the festival, which is held annually, there are endless varieties of mango that one has never even heard of and a few judges tasting them all. It is said that the judges don't eat anything except mangoes in order to be able to taste each variety from each stall for the three days of the festival. Since other fruits also should not be ignored, the festival also includes, bananas, dates, watermelons, cheeku, plums, apricots and other fruits, but mango, of course, is the King of Fruits. There are also products made from the fruits on display.

A similar mango festival is also organised in Punjab during their peak mango yielding time. And that's how one by one mangoes from the three provinces carry you through the hottest of the summer months. But their prices are rarely consistent. In Karachi, for instance the mangoes will be cheapest in May and June as they are mangoes from Sindh but the prices will go up once the mangoes from Punjab are marketed here and go yet further up when the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mangoes reach the city. The rates go up because it costs more to transport fruit from up country.

The writer, a staff reporter for Dawn newspaper, is a ‘Jill of all trades’, some of which she has also mastered.
Twitter: @HasanShazia