A little random, but I was listening to this podcast by America’s Test Kitchen and they were talking about Pakistani Mangoes
Yeah… >_> doesn’t sound shady at all… but apparently they are allowed to be imported:
Though unsure if they’re allowed in California.
I’m just looking at some websites and the prices are astounding:
Anyone seen local shops carry different none US/Mexican/Philippine varieties?
The website is for indian mangoes - started with Alphonso, Kesar, and now more regional.
Google indian Alphonso mango - it’s a whole thing about why they’re so hard to get in the US.
They also have Pakistani varieties. I was referring to Chausa more specifically but these other varieties seem intriguing as well:
You’re right, of course - when they started it was Alphonso, they’ve expanded significantly I see!
I really don’t have a lot of breadth to my mango repertoire - my frame of reference for an eating mango is Alphonso so everything else falls short… among “american” (ie available here 
) mangoes I only ever bother with champagne, the texture comes close even though the flavor is far off. Never mind any stringy-flesh mangoes. I’ll splurge on Alphonso in season, if i remember.
The flavor of different indian (and Pakistani, I’m sure, though I’ve never eaten one) varieties is very distinctly different, it’s interesting. For pulp (thicker than juice, eaten with a spoon as part of a meal), there are special varieties.
