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Alphonso's voluptuous shape and sunshine-yellow skin reveal succulent saffron-coloured flesh that's smooth and buttery.
It is named after Afonso de Albuquerque, a nobleman and military expert who helped establish the Portuguese colony in India. It was the Portuguese who introduced grafting on mango trees to produce extraordinary varieties like Alphonso. The fruit was then introduced to the Konkan region in Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of south India.
Of the thousands of cultivars of mango in India, there are several different varieties of Alphonso. The best and most expensive are grown on the small Natwarlal plantation in Ratnagiri and are hand-harvested. It is this variety that's most widely exported. The fruit was shipped to London for the Queen's coronation in 1953 from Mumbai's legendary Crawford Market, renowned for its Alphonso stalls in season, which is when our own love affair with it must have begun.
