Mango Madness
Julie Mautner / July 2008
North Miami, Florida—Anyone who knows chef Allen Susser knows how much he loves mangos. What they may not know is where he actually gets them: as much as half of his supply comes from local home growers, who bring them to him by the box, bag, crate, and car full. Anyone who hands over 200 pounds of fresh mangos receives dinner for two at Chef Allen's: either a six course mango tasting menu or a regular off-the-menu meal.
Susser's "bring us your backyard fruit" campaign nets him roughly a ton of mangos over the course of the three month (May, June, July) growing season and often turns up unique cultivars—such as Zill, Edward, and Bombay—that his purveyor doesn't carry. The fruit tends to come in 50 to 60 pounds at a time, as it ripens though the season. "And I use every last bit of it", he says.The "bring us your mangos" message is spread via word of mouth, the Chef Allen's Web Site, the National Mango Board Web site, and local press.
Susser, whose The Great Mango Book just entered its second printing, became the spokesman for the National Mango Board three years ago. In July he participated in two mango festivals: one at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables (Miami); the other a week later at Jade Mountain, the mountaintop "sanctuary" resort on St. Lucia, where he consults. "St. Lucia has mango trees more than 100 years old," Susser says. "This island is dripping with mangos, 20 or 30 different types."