Belize has 70 Varieties of Mangos, How Many Can you Name?
And, finally tonight, mango season is about to begin its full swing - and as a sort of tradition - we revisit our story on the many varieties of mangoes that can be found in Belize - as many as 70!
In 2023 Courtney Menzies sat with mango researcher Noel Gillett, who had identified them. Here's a repeat of that story:
Back in 2021, our news team went looking for the favored mangoes of Belizeans.
The names we kept hearing were the number 11, black and blue mangoes. And most people knew about four to six different varieties, whereas, at that time, mango researcher Noel Gillett had documented 32.
But now, two years later, that number has grown, and he's discovered lesser known varieties such as Rosa, East Indian, Diamond and more with the help of his Facebook group. And he's also found out how this number keeps growing:
Noel Gillett, Mango Researcher
"What I've come to find out is that a lot of these mango varieties that have been added to the list have become a lot more international based as mangoes relates to their parents so what's going on is that we have a lot of these mangoes being brought in in addition to the mangoes that already exist in the country and you have expert grafters you call them and they make, or not make, but they…"
Noel Gillett, Mango Researcher
"they make the varieties available here in Belize. Now, when these mango varieties are here in Belize is just keeps adding to that list so the last time we spoke we had about 30 mango varieties and now it's well into 50-60 varieties. It could go all the way up to 70."
Noel Gillett, Mango Researcher
"I have never seen the pictures of mangoes like Nam Doc Mai or Milk Mango or Garlic Mango. That's just three of the most recent ones I've seen here and I'm starting to learn about a lot of mangoes in Florida as well that people are bringing here to graft and those have like the Keith, the Kent, those kind of mangoes."
And he explained a little about the grafting process:
Noel Gillett, Mango Researcher
"When we talk about graft, it's mostly just to graft the same, it's a clone of the parent so what they do, they bring the root or they bring the scion you call it, and then they put it on the rootstock, here in Belize. The important thing to note, what I've learned is that the Belize black mango and the number 11 have a good disease resistant rootstock and they can put the budwood, they bring the budwood, for example like golden queen and Nam Duc Mai or Kent, Keith, a lot of then, Manila, things like those, they bring them in and when they do that, they cut off piece of the parent or the piece of the rootstock or they make a hole in the rootstock, put the budwood in and tape it up together with special grafting tape and there goes a clone of the parent plant."
And while every new discovery is another surprise, he says one of the most shocking things about his research is just how many people are interested in mangoes. So he's planning to condense the knowledge he's gathered in a way that every Belizean can learn.
Noel Gillett, Mango Researcher
"It's very interesting that people actually have this interest in trying to get all these mango varieties here in Belize and try to identify which ones are which or how each one taste or the presence fibre or all of those many good characteristics of mangoes."
Noel Gillett, Mango Researcher
"What I plan to do, I plan to gather all of these research so far for these 50-70 varieties and after confirmation, of course, I've seen like Hopkins post for the Mango Fest, again people are actually interested in learning all of these mango varieties and I had the idea from two years ago, I think last time I mentioned I was going to make a book, but I have something a bit better than a book I want to create, I actually want to create a Belizean mango catalogue so all the people of Belize can find out what's available in the country whether it be something common to find or those rare ones that people bring in from the US and Cuba and Mexico, Philippines, there are so many."
And in Gillett's masterlist, there are 50 documented varieties, including your favorites like ice cream, common, and Julie mangoes, as well as 28 varieties that are unaccounted, like Sweet Diana, Bombay, and Pico.
And if you've never heard about types like Big Ben and Carrie, or if you have an unidentified mango growing in your yard, you can join Gillett's Facebook group to learn more.
