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Comment by jimsimmons | Hacker News Reader

This. It’s like people in the west have never eaten real mangoes and only know of it via artificial flavour.

I’ll also mention Raspuri which is my favourite kind. As the name suggests it’s very juicy

Most people in the west haven’t eaten real mangoes. The US and Europe are just too far away to get access to proper tropical fruit because it spoils so fast. We get the varieties that travel well which are almost universally the worst tasting (fewer sugars for bacteria to eat and more fiber and cellulose filler). So ironically, yeah, synthetic flavors are sometimes the only place we get certain flavors - like the artificial banana flavor that’s based on the Gros Michel that preceded the cavendish.

Here in the US, due to industrialization, I struggle to find good fruit and vegetables in general, let alone tropical. They’re all picked too soon, travel too far, and have barely any flavor compared to home grown - and I’m in California! There’s a few specialized tropical fruit growers in Florida but it’s not even legal to ship much of that stuff here

Isn't this also down to different types of Mango being grown in Brazil than in India?

The small yellow Indian mangoes that are exported also taste very different from the exported big green-red Brazilian mangoes.

So the export might have to do with it, but I think it's the type of mango that makes the difference.

I find Indian mangoes much better personally, even if exported, although when traveling in India they were even better.

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