mango&lime – a miami food blog — a miami food blog

The first time I tasted mamey was at the graduate school offices of the University of Miami. My boss Norma would bring in blended mamey pulp, pour it into those office Styrofoam coffee cups and put it in the freezer so my fellow student workers and I could enjoy the frozen treat in the afternoon.

Photos by Rachael Lee Coleman

If you grew up in South Florida or have lived here long enough, chances are you’ve seen or tasted a mamey. The brown-skinned, oval-shaped fruit has a bright orange-reddish interior when ripe. Its taste is often described as a mix of vanilla and sweet potato; its texture is somewhat like custard. In Miami, you’re most likely to see it used in batidos (shakes) at Cuban establishments like El Palacio de los Jugos and Versailles. Yet the fruit is not very well known elsewhere in the United States and even among some South Floridians.

That could be changing soon.

Slow Food Miami has nominated the fruit, more specifically the Pantin variety, to the U.S. Ark of Taste, a catalog of over 200 foods that are in danger of disappearing from our tables. By promoting demand of the foods in the catalog, the group seeks to preserve them.

I spoke to Noel Ramos, Slow Food Miami advisory board member and the person preparing the nomination, who says he considers the mamey a heritage fruit because it is rare and only grown in South Florida. “It’s not like mangoes that are grown all over Central and South America. The Pantin is only grown here. The 300-400 acres we have here is all we have.”

The mamey is native to Central America and, according to Ramos, there is evidence that the fruit was being consumed by the Mayas for thousands of years. It is believed to have arrived in Cuba, where it became hugely popular, sometime in the 1600s. Because its seed was considered a narcotic, it was hard to bring mamey into the United States, but somehow a seed made it to Key West and a tree was planted at a fire station.

“From that tree started an industry in South Florida,” Ramos said.

That Key West fire station is where Donald Pantin discovered the fruit in 1956. He grafted a tree and started planting it in Homestead where he lived. Pantin was the first person to get a loan for a commercial mamey orchard in the United States.

Today, two types of mamey grow in South Florida, Pantin and Magaña, but the Pantin is more widely grown and a higher quality fruit, said Ramos.

“Magaña ripens unevenly; it’s less colorful and less sweet.”

Pantin mameys are abundant at the fruit stands along Krome Avenue in Homestead, where my friend and I learned that they are referred to as Key West mameys. In Miami, I have seen them at Whole Foods and Gardner’s Market in addition to many Hispanic markets. To tell if a mamey is ready to buy or pick, scratch its surface with your fingernail to peel off a bit of its skin. The flesh should be red or orange. Once at home allow it to sit at room temperature until it softens. Make sure the fruit is soft to the touch before you eat it.

A decision about the Pantin mamey is expected this month. If selected, the mamey will be the third fruit grown in Florida to become part of the U.S. Ark of Taste. The other two are the Wilson Popenoe avocado and the Hatcher mango.

“… we are underrepresented in the Ark of Taste,” said Ramos. “The state of California probably has 50-60 fruit in [the Ark of Taste] and the Hatcher mango was the first fruit from Florida on there.”

So, I say, let’s hear it for the mamey.

Chef Michael Schwartz will be creating a menu for an Ark of Taste dinner in September celebrating the mamey and the Popenoe avocado. Details will be posted on the Slow Food Miami website as they become available.