Boxed sunshine

In early summer here in the UK, the Asian food shops near the area where I live start to display a whole load of slim cardboard boxes in stacks. The boxes are full of honey mangoes or Chausa mangoes from Pakistan.



The season is short - only about 4 to 6 weeks at the very most. It's one of the highlights of my summer and I have a tendency to become very mango-centric! It made me laugh when I popped into a local shop to get my first box of the season just over a week ago (having spotted them on my way home, screamed like a banshee in the car and then hurriedly pulled over at the first opportunity to run back to the shop) and the shopkeeper (an elderly gentleman) laughed and said "I was thinking when you were coming. Mangoes come, you come!"



I have been known to dash into a shop and exit with 4 to 6 boxes of mangoes for friends and colleagues! Mango madness. I love these tasty gems packed with vitamins and minerals – vitamin A and E as well as iron and selenium. I heard somewhere that a medium-sized mango has about 100 calories. Not too bad I guess. They have an amazing flavour and make me think of sunshine when I'm eating them.

I'm heading out to the shops shortly to get a few boxes for friends at work ... and maybe pick an extra one up for myself!

Have a great weekend, friends.