Miasma Over Miami

It's mango season here in the sub-tropics. This means only one thing: total strangers speak to each other and offer up the juicy globes, freely and without constraint. You get on the train, and there, walking up and down the aisles are people trying to give away mangos. Children set up card tables on the side of the road, and sell the fruit for a quarter. I have been known to slip out under cover of darkness and leave bags of them on my neighbors' doorsteps.

That's because if we don't we will be drowning in mangos. Mangos are luscious and fragrant, until they hit the ground and immediately rot. I think they start the rotting process the nanosecond the stem detaches from the fruit and it begins its descent. Then the stench of rotting fruit is unbearable and inescapable. Entire neighborhoods reek of rotting mangos, since so much of this city was fruit groves prior to development. There are clouds of fruit flies hovering beneath the trees. Blue jays and squirrels take up permanent residence until the end of the season. From my four trees (three varieties doncha know: two Haydens, one Smithfield and a Keitt) I have made: mango jelly, mango marmalade, mango daiquiris, mango margaritas, mango bread, mango chutney, chicken with mango, green mango chutney, green mango pickles, frozen mango, and green mango pie.

The only salvation is that mangos fruit every other year. This year I have too many, next year I won't have enough. But even then, in a month, when the trees finally give up that last, sweet, fragrant fruit, I'll be out in the yard, looking up and asking: Any left? One more? Please?

And now, because maybe YOU have too many mangos, here's a little something for you.

Mango Upside-Down Cake

2 cups ripe mangoes, sliced
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup milk
1-1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Pour lemon juice over mangoes and allow to stand 15 minutes. Melt butter in 8-inch pan or casserole. Add brown sugar and cover with a layer of mango slices. To prepare the cake batter: Cream the shortening, add the shortening, add the sugar and cream together, then add beaten egg. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with milk. Pour over mangoes and bake 50 to 60 minutes at 375 degrees F. When cake is done, turn it out upside-down and serve while still warm. Serve with whipped cream or a lemon or lime sauce.