Totapuri mangoes are thought to have come from Andhra’s Krishna district in the 1800’s and quickly spread across South India. They’re known for their tanginess, parrot-beak shape — and even made it to Florida in the early 1900’s, helping create new mango varieties there. They’re often the first of the mangoes you’ll see in the year because of them being consumed largely in its raw form — as early as March.

I sometimes wonder, though, if we’ve been eating Totapuri a little too early, mistaking its raw sharpness for its peak form. Somewhere along the way, it got boxed into the role of ‘that sour mango with chilli powder and salt.’ While that’s a classic for a reason, it also feels like a bit of a mis-profile to me. A recent Totapuri purchase from Amjad, our trusty fruit vendor in Chikmagalur, which I initially thought I had left out for a couple days – made me write about this.

The real magic starts to show when you let it sit for a few days – just enough for the starches to relax and the sugars to stretch their legs. At that point, the fruit doesn’t lose its tang – it gains dimension. It moves from being a single-note sour to something layered and unexpected. In that brief window of semi-ripeness, Totapuris becomes less of a background player and more of a lead character. We just haven’t been giving it enough time to speak.