How to make and store Mango Pulp + Mango Pulp Recipe Ideas and Uses [+Video]

Last updated on February 14, 2019 By Helene Dsouza 18 Comments

I make Mango Pulp when I have too many mangoes ripening way too fast. The fruit pulp of different Mangoes can be so useful even months after the harvesting season, plus the sweet mango pulp tastes great months later!

So how do you make Mango pulp from scratch and how do you store the pulp so that it remains good for a longer period of time?

Mango Qualities

This might surprise you, but making mango pulp is super easy and tastes of course way better then the store bought mango pulp.

Commercially available Mango pulp packed in cans and vacuum bags tends to taste less fresh and come with an un-pure mango flavor, which might be because of added chemical preservatives.

The lowest mango quality grade is used in commercially available mangoes, so you don’t really get the best mango pulp for your homemade precious desserts.

Nowadays, you can buy mangoes all over the world. The mango fruit has come a long way in the past 20 years, it’s as common as bananas in grocery stores in 2017.

The ripe mango season, in Asia, sweetens the steaming hot summer from April to June. You can buy mangoes too during other times in the year, however, that is not suggested since the Mangoes won’t taste that great.

In Europe, you can get hold of Mangoes from Brazil all year round. I am not a fan of Brazilian Mangoes so I won’t comment on that any further.

However, getting these “off-season” Mangoes is in many cases still better than buying preserved Mango pulp in a can.

Mango varieties

When you live in India South East Asia, Brazil, Hawaii and similar tropical environment, and you have a mango tree, you will end up with way too many mangoes to consume in time. Usually, neighbors exchange a shopping bag full of mangoes among each other, because after all, not every tree bears the same mango variety and even if, the mango will still taste differently.

Mangoes are quite mysterious fruits. Having 2 bigger Mankurac Mango variety trees in our garden, I can tell you that both trees produce different tasting mango fruits. Yes, the base flavor is the same but the age of the tree, it’s seed origin, the soil where it grows, general location, weather conditions of the previous months and the amount of watering determine the end resulting mango fruit flavor.

There are countless Mango varieties, with my favorite being the massive Bishops Mango. The most common Mango type in the world in the Alphonso Mango and the most commonly available mango pulp in stores is of the same mango variety.

I don’t particularly enjoy Alphonso mangoes, as others do. It’s a mainstream mango, so it suits most people to a certain amount. The advantage of Alphonso Mangoes is that they don’t have that many fibers.

Advantages of making your own Mango Pulp at home:

Use up ripe and soft mangoes before they go bad – sometimes a batch of very ripe mangoes is sold at a very low price, that’s when you use your smart and buy the mangoes and turn them into a pulp. If you have a mango tree with a lot of fruits, finding ways to use the mangoes quickly and to store them, is a necessity. Just pulp the mangoes and store for later!
Pick your favorite Mango variety to pulp – if you have more then one mango variety you can choose to pulp each separately or you can mix them up. Some Mango varieties are better suited for Mango lassies too and others for cakes and this is something you could explore. You get to choose your mango pulp flavor.
You know what’s in your mango pulp – you make it so you know there are no added sugars or preservatives, plus you get to pick the quality of your mangoes used to ake the pulp.
It’s easy and almost effortless and tastes way better then the store bought canned or vacuumed packets. Homemade mango pulp won’t disappoint you and won’t turn bad if stored properly.

Freezing Mangoes as a whole with the core is not a good idea. The mangoes turn ugly when defrosted, mushy and kind of not flavorful. That’s why we make mango pulp.

How to prepare Mango pulp – How to store Mango pulp and How to cut Mangoes quickly

As you can see in the video, cutting off the ends first will save you time in peeling the mangoes. That way you can cut the fruits without much mess, way faster and you need a quick method to cut a lot of fruits effectively without loosing the precious sweet mango juice.

Some Mango varieties have more fibers/strings in the flesh than others. That’s why Alphonso mangoes tend to be popular because they are almost without fibers. Yet, there are 100+ more mango varieties in this world and half of those don’t have fibers, so don’t limit yourself to Alphonso only, however, use a mango variety with fewer fibers or you will need to strain the pulp since the fibers can be annoying.

Once you have cut off all the fruit flesh around the core and discarded the peel, you can cut the mango into chunks. Then place them in a mixer/blender and just mix to a smooth paste. Don’t add water or sugar. I wouldn’t add any flavoring like cardamom or saffron at this point since you can always do that later. Keep it natural and simple, so that you can use the pulp in various ways later in your food preparations.

To store the mango pulp/puree, keep a few vacuum zip bags ready. Fill the zip-lock bags with the pulp, close and place into the freezer. You can use bigger or smaller bags, I prefer the smaller ones, batch-wise because it’s easier to defrost when I want to use only smaller quantities.

Also vacuum zip-lock bags are easy to use, just open and use, and keep the mango pulp in perfect condition in the freezer. It’s more hygienic too and you will find that storing filled zip-lock bags will save you space in your freezer, compared to Tupperware boxes.

For one big bag, I used approximately 4 smaller mangoes the other day, so mango pulp is quite compact too in the freezer.

Related Recipes to Mango Pulp:

Mango Jam Recipe
Guava Paste – aka Guava Cheese is a vegan natural sweet
Tamarind Paste – to create sauces such as Pad Thai, HP Sauce
Papaya Paste – to tenderize meat