Green Mango

Unripe Indian mangoes, and they are meant to be this way — rock hard and properly sour. This is not a mango that will ripen into something sweet on your counter; it is a souring ingredient in its own right.

It is what aam ka achaar is made from, and aam panna, and the green mango chutney that goes with everything. Shredded raw into a salad with chilli, fish sauce and peanuts it does the job that lime does elsewhere. Some cooks also drop a piece into a dal or a fish curry purely for the sourness.

You want fruit that is uniformly hard with tight green skin and no soft shoulder. Any give at all means it has started to ripen, and a half-ripe mango is no good for either purpose.

Cool and dry, out of the fridge, and away from ripe fruit — ethylene from bananas or ripe mangoes will start it ripening, which is the one thing you do not want.

One to two weeks while still hard.