I love love love to bite into a juicy mango. But, now I will not be able to eat ANY more ever. I'm allergic to them. Yes, I said it. I'm allergic to mangoes. How, you ask, do I know this?
Well, last summer I enjoyed a few mangoes and then a few days later I woke up and my lips were covered in these tiny little water blisters that itches, my lips were swollen and the roof of my mouth itched like crazy. I thought I was some weird reaction to a chap-stick or even something else that I had eaten. I never in my wildest dreams thought it was from mangoes. About a week later they went away and I didn't really worry about it...until this summer. I had a few mangoes on Monday of this week and woke up yesterday with that same horrible feeling on my mouth. Yep, the water blisters were back and they itched horribly. The only thing I have found that helps them not hurt so bad is burts bees chap-stick.
So, I did some research and found out that mangoes are actually related to poison ivy (which also contains urushiol, the
irritant component), and "mango mouth" is a well-known affliction,
particularly throughout Asia. Seriously why did I not know this? It apparently is in the skin and can go as deep as 5mm into the fruit.
Moral or the story. Mangoes now suck and my lips still hurt.
To avoid: urushiol is in its highest concentrations in the skin and
seeds of a mango. You can still eat mangoes, just use a spoon and wash
your lips right after if you want to bite the flesh off the seed. I
know how pleasurable it is to do, but if you are sensitive to urushiol,
DO NOT diagonally score your mango cheeks and eat the cubes off the
skin. Surefire way to get mango mouth. Finally, never ever pick
mangoes; you'll get a reaction all over you.
