I have been eating mangoes with almost every lunch and dinner I have had with my new host family since January when I moved in with them. You may remember me writing that a mango orchard surrounds the house.

There are near to 100 trees I am told. I did not believe it, so I set out to count them myself. I stopped counting after 70.

I was never really a lover of Mangoes. But I have learned like them here. In Cambodia, mangoes are eaten in two forms, unripe, or green, and ripe.  I don’t think I have ever seen green mangoes sold in stores back home, and I was surprised when I saw people eating them this way here. They are the consistency of a crisp apple and more than a little tart. Typically they are skinned, sliced, and dipped in a mixture of salt and chili powder, or powdered instant soup mix (like from a Ramen noodle package). My favorite is the chili and salt. One day I saw one of the guys at the health center dipping mango into Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), an electrolytes solution used for treating diarrhea. It’s mostly sugar and salt, and it was actually quite good.

 Of course, the ripe mango is what everyone waits for, and that is what I have been feasting on for most of this year. A 31 gram mango has approximately the same amount of sugar as a can of coke! Yes, living with this new family I have gained weight.

The week before I left for Poland, I walked around the orchard with the family and picked the last remaining mangoes from the trees. Mango season has ended! And yes, since the end of mango season however, I have lost 2 Kg.

Typically the mangoes are picked slightly green and ripened off the tree. Above Toum wraps green mangoes in banana tree leaves and packs them in a box to ripen.

I am eagerly anticipating the next Mango season. In the meantime, I have been keeping a close eye on our banana trees. If you have never seen bananas grow, they are fascinating and beautiful. Banana trees are perennials. The time between planting a banana plant and the harvest of the banana bunch is from 9 to 12 months.

This is a banana tree bloom. The flower appears in the sixth or seventh month after planting. Banas are available throughout the year as and do not have a specific growing season.

I took this photo of the tree blooming just outside our kitchen the week I left for Poland.

Today, it looks like this, and I am eagerly awaiting the day I can eat one.