Binomen Art - Mangifera

Champagne Mangos and Cinnamon Mangifera

It’s been a while since we have been inspired to create a Binomen Art project and these champagne mangos looked like the perfect subject. The champagne mango, according to the Ciruli Brothers (exclusive distributors of champagne mangos), is the variety ‘Ataulfo’, “named after Chiapas, Mexico, mango grower Ataulfo Morales Gordillo. Its origin was the result of random cross pollination of several mango trees in the Soconusco region of Chiapas.” We can vouch for the marketing blurb that says this variety is velvety smooth with almost no fibrous texture. And, it’s tasty to boot.

Mangos or Mangifera indica are part of the Anacardia family which includes cashew, poison ivy, and sumac. Mangos grow in tropical climates, typically at low altitude.The generic name according to Quattrocchi has the following origin:

Manga, mangai, man-kay, mankay, manghi, Malayalam and Tamil names, plus Latin fero, fers, ferre “to bear, carry”.

The specific epithet indica means “of India” – where it is believed the mango originated. The “fero” part of the generic name made me scratch my head a bit until I found the Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages site which has this to say about the generic name:

The genus name Mangifera (“bringer of mango”) contains Latin ferre carry, bring (see also asafetida), cf. Lucifer bringer of light or Christopher he who carries Christ.

I never thought of Lucifer or Christopher in this sense. And folks, that’s why I produce this blog – to learn.

Here we spell out Mangifera by slicing into the flesh with a knife dusted with cinnamon. The cinnamon was used to make the lettering stand out and it turned out to work very well taste-wise with the mango.

Champagne Mangos and Cinnamon Mangifera