I’m craving a glass of green mango juice right now.

The curious thing is that when I originally posted this recipe, the dry and humid season was ending and the monsoon season was starting. That means mango season was almost over and we were getting more mangoes that were sold while still green and unripe. Too late to leave them to ripen in the trees where they will rot and fall if left exposed to days and nights of torrential rains. For us, that meant plenty of green mangoes to puree into green mango juice.

Unlike ripe mangoes, the flesh of unripe ones isn’t soft enough to scoop to separate from the skin. To prep the green mangoes, we use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. That’s to ensure that very little flesh gets discarded.

Then, the flesh is cut with a small knife. As another assurance that we get as much of the flesh as we can, we cut around the center stone.

With the fruit flesh ready for pureeing, the remaining issue is how much sugar to add to make a sweetish drink that is still pleasantly tart. How much sugar you need to create a good balance with the tartness of unripe mango depends on how unripe the fruit is.

Very unripe mango, with flesh the shade of the lightest green, is more tart than one that has started to soften and turn yellow-green. At the same time, because you need to add water to the shaved green mangoes to process them into a puree in the blender, the tartness will be diluted too by the amount of water you use.

So, my suggestion is that you add a minimal amount of sugar when you start processing. Add more only as needed.

Green mango juice

Connie Veneracion

Made with pureed unripe tart mangoes, sugar and ice, sweet-tangy green mango juice is a popular summer drink in tropical Asia that's so easy to make at home.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 0

Total Time 10

Course Drinks

Cuisine Filipino

Servings glasses

Equipment

Blender

Ingredients

▢ 4 green mangoes - peeled and stones discarded
▢ sugar
▢ ice

Instructions

Cut the mango flesh into small pieces to give the blender an easier time to puree it.
Dump the cut mangoes into the blender. Add two tablespoons of sugar. Pour in a cup of water.
Pulse the blender a few times to start the pureeing process. If the motor gets stuck, add a little more water, no more than two tablespoons at a time. Turn up the speed and process the mangoes until the mixture is smooth.
Taste the green mango juice. Add more sugar if it is too tart. Pulse a few times to blend in any sugar added. Repeat until you get the desired sweet-tangy balance.
Drop ice cubes into flour glasses.
Pour the green mango juice into the glasses and serve immediately.