In a distant past Co-op article, I wrote of my intense craving for citrus fruits by the end of late Winter, early Spring. I wondered if others craved this sun filled, power packed fruit as we crawl out of the dark and cold North Country Winters. 

November 2022 and here I am, already craving mangos. I suspect it is the same urge for the sun infused fruit but showing up very early in this year’s Winter scheme of snow and cold. Maybe this is why so many flee to the warmer states as they get older? I love snow and Winter but a warm, sunny break right now would be nice. 

I digress… back to Mangos.

The Co-op has these amazing, organic, dried mango slices. I can eat a whole small bag in my quest for inner sunshine. My last few Co-op shopping trips have come up empty handed in the mango realm. I suspect it has something to do with the mango season being January through June and supplies dwindling. I think about how we humans want full on supplies of everything and all year long. 

No dried mango… instead I bought frozen organic, mango chunks inspired to do something with them outside of thawing and making mango lassis. (Yes, thaw them. Frozen drinks are hard on digestion any time of the year and in the cold of Winter… even worse. Skip frozen. Skip ice cubes. Your digestion will thank you.) I contemplated oatmeal mango cookies but realized the dried mango would work much better for cookies. Mango muffins? Perfect, except I get lazy in the kitchen. Muffins become bread so I can avoid buttering all those little muffin tins or using paper products to line them. Cookies become cookie bars as they are less time consumptive to watch over as they bake. 

Mango bread it is… recipe to follow below. First, let’s get back to the nourishing beauty of those little orbs of tropical sunshine and unravel why we might crave them. 

Common knowledge among tropical folk is using their native tropical fruit in cooking meat makes it tender and cook faster. This speaks of the juiciness of tropical fruit and the enzyme content. Winter is drying weather. Tropical fruit juices us up, moistening, as it nourishes our bodies. 

Pick your mangos with care. Ripe mangos yield to a gentle squeeze much like avocados. Green mangos will not fully ripen and black spotted ones are already over ripe. Eat them as soon as they are ripe as tossing an overripe mango into the compost is a sad moment. 

The nourishment of a mango runs deep. They are loaded with fruit and sun ripened energy. Mangos are high in vitamin A, carotenes, vitamins C, anti-oxidants, and phytonutrients. Mangos also nourish our body cells with several minerals and potassium. The power to tenderize meat, as I wrote above, speaks of their enzyme content that is supportive of digestion and easing inflammation in the body. 

Mango skins can be irritating to a person’s skin and mouth. The mango is related to poison oak, ivy, and sumac. I am seeing the irritated skin connection. Always peel the mango and discard the skin into the compost. Mangos are also related to cashews… as a side note! If I had cashews in the home, I would have added chopped cashews to the below Mango Magic Muffin Bread recipe. 

Mango Magic Muffin Bread

The amounts of the ingredients in this recipe are approximate as I am not a recipe user. I just tossed these ingredients into a bowl. Ingredients are also organic and whole food.

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Ingredients

  

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup unrefined brown sugar upon tasting I would cut this to 1/3 cup as I prefer less sweetness
• 1 stick butter 4 oz
• 2 generous tsp. of coconut extract oh hell, just use a tablespoon
• 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• 2-3 tsp. dried ginger powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 TBSP. baking powder
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 buckwheat flour
• 1/3 cup quinoa flour
• ½ cup millet flour
• 1 cup or so of chopped frozen mango chunks. I chopped the frozen pieces to about thumbnail size. Subjective measure, I know.

Instructions

 

• Add all wet ingredients to a mixing bowl and blend well.
• Add dry ingredients to another bowl and blend together.
• Add wet to dry & mix evenly.
• Mix in mango chunks.
• Oven @ 350F.
• Prep a bread pan or muffin tins.
• Pour batter.
• Bread cooked for 1 hour & 20 minutes before a knife came out ‘clean-ish.’ I removed from the oven at this point as I felt it was enough at 80 minutes. The bread is definitely moist and I attribute this to the juiciness of mango. Muffins would take less cooking time, obviously.

Notes

All flours are gluten free. Feel free to replace the flours with any that suit your cell nourishment needs and baking experience. I do recommend flours that are whole in nature or at least still have the germ intact. Again, this all depends upon what is being ground into a flour: grain, seed, nut, etc. 

If I had had finely shredded, organic coconut, I would have added ½ cup or so to the bread. Like the cashews… I was out of this ingredient. 

End result: very yummy. A nice bread or muffin to share at holiday time.

My written information is from my wisdom, research, training, and experience in western medicine (Functional Medicine RN) and Natural Medicine -Holistic Modalities – Herbalist certification. My views are not necessarily the views of the Potsdam Food Co-op. When we make choices about our health, use other’s advice, and make choices based upon that advice; we are taking our health into our own hands. Our choices, and any actions that result from said choices, are our own responsibility. Using herbs wisely, as food and medicine, requires hands on learning and working with a trained herbalist while you create your own knowledge base. Yes, this is my disclaimer.

-Paula Youmell, RN

Find more articles by Paula Youmell, RN, Wise Woman Nurse.