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belong to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is indigenous to eastern Asia, Myanmar, and Assam. Cultivated in many tropical regions and distributed widely in the world, mango is one of the most popularly exploited fruits for food, juice, flavor, fragrance and color. Its leaves are ritually used as floral decorations at weddings and religious ceremonies.
The name mango is ultimately from the Kodagu mange, the Malayalam manga, or the Tamil mangai, and was loaned into Portuguese in the early 16th century, and from Portuguese passed into English. The ending in -o appears in English and is of unclear origin.
Mangoes have been cultivated in the Indian Subcontinent for thousands of years and reached East Asia between the 5th-4th century BC. By the 10th century AD, they were transported to East Africa and subsequently introduced to Brazil, West Indies and Mexico, where climate allows its appropriate growth.
The origins of mango are thought to have been from a plant from Malaysia, India and Indonesia. It probably was grown in southeast Asia before the seventh century, although the only references found are from Cambodia. The 14th century Muslim traveler, Ibn Battuta, reported it at Mogadishu.
Mango is now widely cultivated as a fruit tree in frost-free tropical and warmer subtropical climates throughout the Indian subcontinent, North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, south and central Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia. It is easily cultivated yielding more than 1,000 cultivars, ranging from the "turpentine mango" (named for its strong taste of turpentine, which according to the Oxford Companion to Food some varieties actually contain) to the huevos de toro (literally "eggs of the bull", a euphemism for "bull's testicles", referring to the shape and size).
Although a popular fruit around the world, many mango farmers receive a low price for their produce. This has led to mangoes being available as a fair trade item in some countries. Dwarf or semi-dwarf varieties, such as Nam Doc Mai, yield fruit in containers.
In Mexico, mango is used to make juices, smoothies, ice cream, fruit bars, raspados, aguas frescas, pies and sweet chili sauce, or mixed with chamoy, a sweet and spicy chili paste. It is popular on a stick or also as a main ingredient in fresh fruit combinations.
Many hundreds of named mango cultivars exist. In mango orchards, several cultivars are often intermixed to improve cross-pollination.
A common cultivar is Alphonso known in Asia under its original name, Hapoos. Popular outside the Indian subcontinent, Alphonso is an important export product.
