Mango tree Curacao
A few days ago I was picking some mangoes from my neighbour’s mango tree which hangs over my fence and into my yard. They were still unripe but were large enough that I wanted to get to them before my neighbour did. I couldn’t reach them so I used a stepping stool to give me some height. I would learn only later that this wasn’t such a bright idea. As I picked these delicious looking fruits I began to feel my face itch and all I wanted to do at that point was throw the mangoes to the ground and relieve myself of this irritating feeling. But I held back because my hands were sticky and I forced myself to enjoy this special experience of picking fresh fruit. After frantically picking 3 or 4 mangoes I figured that I needed to stop and do something about this nagging itch. So I literally ran into the house, washed my hands which were coated with sap and finally got a chance to tend to this strange mango-picking incident. How could this have happened? Did it even have anything to do with picking mangoes or was it just my face telling me that it needed some moisturizing? As this itchy feeling subsided I forgot about it and instead delved in the excitement of having picked fresh mangoes for the first time ever.

The next afternoon I suddenly noticed some faint spots on my forehead, the side of my face, on my nose, and on my chest. I thought for a second and remembered that I had been itching in precisely these areas right after the mango-picking incident. I asked around and no one could really give me an acceptable answer. So I did what most people do when they are in these situations. I went to…..yes… Google for some answers and it came through for me like always. It only took me a couple of searches to finally determine what the heck had happened to me.

So what really caused this mysterious reaction? It wasn’t a pesticide or some freaky micro-organism. No, it was the mango itself!! It turns out that the sap and peel of the mango fruit contain an oily organic allergen called urushiol which is also found in poison ivy and poison oak. These all belong to the same plant family. Urushiol is also found in mango leaves and vines. Depending on the sensitivity of a person’s skin the mango sap/peel can cause an allergic skin rash on contact. Wow, I had no idea but I definitely learned something new in this whole experience and I thought it would be neat to share it with others that may want to pick mangoes at some point in time. I have never had any problems peeling and eating mangoes but, then again, I have never hand-picked a mango before. Although I still have the scars a week later, I will continue to eat and pick mangoes, cautiously nevertheless, because they are truly a tropical delight. The only thing is that now I will have to go out and buy myself a face mask for my next mango-picking adventure!

 
This article is a guest column by Rajvee Mehta.

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3 BERICHTEN

  1. How would that affect the extremely small number of people that eat the mango peel?

    Nice read, though. I’ll keep all this in mind next time I’m trying to snag a couple juicy mangoes.

  2. Next time pick them when they are almost ripe, then the sap will be less strong.
    Mangoes for export are usually picked just before they ripen, but the taste is the best right of the tree 🙂

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