Freezing Mangos for Home Storage

Mangos can be easily frozen for use later. You can freeze them in a syrup, dry or puree them and freeze the puree.   Here's how to freeze the Mangos, in easy steps:

Directions

Step 1 - Selecting the mangoes

Choose ripe, mature fruit of ideal quality for eating fresh or cooking. They should not be mushy, but they also should not be rock hard: just as ripe as you would eat them fresh.  You can also use solid green mangoes. Select firm, non-fibrous fruit. Caution: Handling green mangoes may irritate the skin of some people in the same way as poison ivy. (They belong to the same plant family.)  (see this page for more information) To avoid this reaction, wear plastic gloves while working with raw green mango. Do not touch your face, lips or eyes after touching or cutting green mangoes until all traces are washed away  .

Step 2 - How many mangoes and where to get them

You can pick your own, or buy them at the grocery store in the summer months. But for large quantities, you'll find that Costco, Sam's Club and BJ's seem to have the largest mangoes and best prices.

It takes about 5 good sized mangoes to fill one quart jar.

* - not the cutesy, fake farmer's markets that are just warehouse grocery stores that call themselves farmer's markets.

Step 3 - Prepare the sugar (or other sweetener) solution

Mangoes may be packed in a syrup or dry: It's up to you which to use.  Sugar is added to improve flavor, help stabilize color, and retain the shape of the fruit. It is not added as a preservative. Sugar solution is much less expensive (unless you have a supply of cheap grape juice), so I usually use a light or medium solution to keep sugar (and the added calories) to a minimum. A medium syrup is what the USDA recommends.

A Syrup Pack is preferred for mangos to be used for uncooked desserts or fruit cocktail. A dry pack is good for pie making. The dry pack can be used any way.  The syrup pack methods are less likely to brown or have freezer burn. Arrange slices on a flat pan and freeze. When frozen remove and store in sealed containers.

Sugar Syrup
 
Syrup Sugar Water Yield
Light 2 cups 6 cups 7 cups
Medium 3 cups 6 cups 6 1/2 cups
Heavy 4 cups 6 cups 7 cups
NOTE: you can ALSO use fruit juice (if you want a natural alternative) or artificial sweetener (Stevia (in a prepared form like Truvia, it measures same as sugar; if you use another form, you'll need do your own conversion) - or Splenda, if you prefer, , but NOT Nutrasweet; if you want a low calorie alternative).  Click here for instruction about how to prepare these solutions!

To prepare syrup, while heating water, add sugar slowly, stirring constantly to dissolve. Bring to a gentle boil. Fill jars while syrup is still boiling hot. After preparing the liquid syrup, keep it hot (but not boiling).

Step 4 -Wash the mangoes!

I'm sure you can figure out how to wash the mangoes in plain cold or lukewarm water.

 

 

 

 

Step 5 - Peeling the Mangoes

Nope, we're not going to peel them strictly by hand; that's way too much work.  Instead, here's a great trick that works with many fruits and vegetables with skins (like tomatoes): just dip the fruit in boiling water for 60 seconds.  Remove from the water using a slotted spoon and put into a large bowl or pot of cold water and ice. The skins will easily peel off more easily now! Mangoes are also MUCH easier to peel when slightly ripe.

Step 6 - Cut up the mangoes

Cut out any brown spots and mushy areas. Slice the mangoes in 1/4 thick slices!

 

 

 

 

Step 7 - Mix the mangos with the solution or FruitFresh.

Use a bowl to mix mango slices with the syrup solution.  If you are using a dry pack; use either a bowl or a large plastic bag (gallon size ZipLocs work well) to evenly coat the mango slices.

Step 8 - Pack the slices into your freezer containers

Pack the slices into your freezer containers (freezer bags or plastic freezer containers... or glass (but due to risk of breakage, I tend not to use glass in the freezer). If you are using the dry pack approach, the treated mango slices can also be frozen first on a tray and then packed into containers as soon as they are frozen.

Step 9 - Freeze!

That's it!  They're done.  If your freezer is good and cold (below 25 F) they should keep for many months.  Try to avoid frost-free freezers, as they cycle briefly above freezing!

 

 

 

 

 

Home Canning Kits

This is the same type of  standard canner that my grandmother used to make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need and lasts for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs, lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel, labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball Blue Book. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll never need anything else except jars & lids! To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here!For more information and current pricing:

     

Lids, Rings, Jars, mixes, pectin, etc.

Need lids, rings and replacement jars?  Or pectin to make jam, spaghetti sauce or salsa mix or pickle mixes?  Get them all here, and usually at lower prices than your local store!

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