A mango is a sweet, juicy tropical fruit with smooth orange or yellow flesh inside a thick skin. Mangoes grow on trees in warm climates like India, Mexico, and Thailand. The fruit is oval-shaped, about the size of your fist, and has a large, flat pit in the center that you can't eat.

When a mango is ripe, it feels slightly soft when you squeeze it gently, and it smells sweet near the stem. The skin can be green, yellow, orange, or red depending on the variety, but the color doesn't always tell you if it's ripe. Some people eat mangoes by slicing the flesh away from the pit, while others cut a crosshatch pattern in each half and turn it inside-out to create a mango hedgehog that's easy to bite.

Fresh mango tastes like a combination of peach, pineapple, and citrus. People eat mangoes fresh, blend them into smoothies, dice them for salsa, or dry them into chewy snacks. In many countries, mangoes are called the king of fruits because they're so beloved. India alone grows more than a thousand varieties of mangoes, each with its own distinct flavor and texture.