Green mango jelly

Looking for information on the history of mango in Venezuela, I found the important fact that this delicious, nutritious and medicinal tropical fruit, native to India, was brought to this country from Cayenne, capital of French Guiana, by the Spanish navigator Fermín de Sancinenea in 1789, the year in which the first seed was planted in the city of Angostura. But it is not about the mango itself or its history, what I write on this occasion, but about the exquisite Creole sweet that is prepared with this fruit when it is still green or has not matured, the so-called mango jelly.

The preparation of green mango jelly is done in many ways, but I am interested in showing here my mother's way of proceeding. She selected the best mangoes, the largest and most beautiful, which were in a better state, of a type known as "mangotin", since these are rich in pectin, a substance that gives jelly its proper consistency.

The unpeeled mangoes, with their crust, are put in a container with enough water to cover them, and they are left to boil until the crust opens, an indicator that they are already sufficiently soft.

They are left to cool to room temperature and then peeled and the pulp is removed with a spoon, even the bark must be scraped because that is where the largest amount of pectin is concentrated.

The pulp is passed through a strainer to extract the fibers and impurities it may have. Then they are placed in a container, preferably made of steel, not aluminum, with an amount of sugar equivalent to their weight.

Put it on the fire and let it cook at medium-high temperature, stirring the pulp with a wooden spoon until it boils and separates from the bottom of the container.

It is lowered from the heat and the preparation is poured immediately into a tray, glass or metal, and it extends to the desired thickness, 5 centimeters or less is recommended, but it can be thicker, with this there is no problem. And when it has cooled completely, it is cut into pieces of the desired size and kept refrigerated. It can also be consumed at room temperature.

Notes:
You can add a small amount of vanilla essence and lemon juice to the preparation.

To give or sell, the pieces cut in cubes, rectangles or triangles must be wrapped in cellophane.

A bakery lady says that to avoid giving a lot of spoon to the gelatin, that's what my mother did, when she boils after five minutes she gets up from the fire. I have not tried it yet.

The gelatin that I present in the photograph that illustrates this publication was elaborated by my youngest son, who is a cook, to fill it with sweet breads that he himself made, and for this he used the mangoes that are shown in the other photograph, which he took from the tree where he poses.