From March to July each year here in New York, we get excited for our ataulfo mangoes, all yellow, plentiful, and sweet coming from Mexico. If you come to our apartment during this time, you can expect to see at least 5-10 of them, all lined up by our living room/kitchen windows, socially distanced comfortably to prevent over ripening too quickly and all at the same time. But once July hits, the supply of mangoes starts to dwindle. There are less sales for the ataulfos. And then eventually, we have to bid farewell to yellow mangoes for the summer. If we get lucky and see some nice green/red or Kent mangoes at an Asian or Indian grocery store, we may pick them up, but usually July is the last time we will have mangoes in the Northern Hemisphere for the year.

When we returned from South America, I was sad to see that the mangoes were no longer on sale at Whole Foods and regular priced. So this was an indicator to me that we would no longer have them regularly this summer. Then, my focus switched to summer exotic fruits we can get in Chinatown, like longans (my fave!), lychees, and rambutans. I went down to my favorite street vendors at Mulberry and Canal yesterday, and it was like a galore of all my favorite Asian fruit all lined up. I got three pounds of lychees (3 lb for $10!), one pound of rambutans ($4/lb), one pound of longans ($5/lb), and two pounds of very sweet red cherries (two pounds for $5). I had just bought seven pounds of fruit for $24. The fruit vendor at that stand was likely very, very happy. My shoulders were heavy carrying all that fruit, plus all the other goodies and groceries I picked up yesterday. But I know my stomach (and Pookster’s and Chris’s) will be full from all these seasonal exotic fruit delights!