Chile Mango!!! What a great snack.

I judged at the Monterey Wine Festival this weekend, down in King City.

During the breaks we were able to walk around in the Flea Market/Mercado right behind the competition building on the Fairgrounds.

One family had their truck their with all sorts of roasted nuts and candied fruits and such, including Mission Figs steeped in crystallized honey (yum) and some sort of candied squash (also yum).

But the big hit for a bunch of us was dried mango rubbed with crystallized sugar and roasted chile flakes. I brought a bag full to share with my office buds, and everybody loves it. (I have to confess I bought the version made for gringos and babies, because I didn't think some people could handle the full strength stuff.) Wonderful rich tangy sweetness of mango, very meaty and chewy, and laced with the slow burn of the roasted chiles. Wow!!!!

Now I have to be on the lookout for this stuff locally (the freshly made stuff, not the processed and bagged stuff). It's awesome. Or as one person just said, "This stuff is habit forming."

[Jenise]

OH my, that sounds wonderful.

OH my, that sounds wonderful.

Yep...so wonderful that when I gave a sample to one of our admin people, she kept coming back and wheedling more, and ended up eating about half the bag.

Now I HAVE to go out and find a local source. Or learn to make my own. I'm thinking I might use John Ash's oven-drying technique for the mango, along with some fine crumbled chipotle.

Plus, all of this leads me to investigate the Mexican traditions of candying different fruits and squashes. That vendor had an impressive variety of candied fruits (and veggies, actually) on display, but I didn't have time to linger and taste through them.

Guess I'll have to do a couple of mercados soon.

[Jenise]

The combination makes perfect sense--sweet and hot were meant for each other. The exoticness of mango makes it all the more intriguing.

What is John's oven-drying technique, if I may inquire?

By coincidence, I just picked up a bottle of mango chile vinegar at Trader Joes's (also some grapefruit vinegar). Haven't tasted them yet.

By coincidence, I just picked up a bottle of mango chile vinegar at Trader Joes's (also some grapefruit vinegar). Haven't tasted them yet.

Absolutely correct on this.

Sweetness locks into chilli and vicer versa. My best-selling wine (and my own favourite) to drink with really hot and spicy dishes is a semi-sparkling Muscat / Macabeo blend with 22 grams/litre residual sugar. The sweetness is really cut down by the chilli and the wine takes the edge off the chilli.

But the big hit for a bunch of us was dried mango rubbed with crystallized sugar and roasted chile flakes.

Sounds like a common Thai street snack, except they use fresh green mango (unripe and texture like a dry granny smith apple)

Chile mango is a Mexican treat and is sold in the Mexican section of stores here.