A Step-By-Step Guide to Proper Mango-Slicing Technique

Mangos are five-thousand-year-old superfruits and one of the most popular fruits in the world, but even though we’ve loved them for centuries, cutting them is still confusing territory. In particular, the mango’s oblong pit can get in the way and pose logistical problems. We asked Rebecca Goldfarb of the Social Table to help explain how to properly cut mangoes using a kitchen knife (in Rebecca’s case, a double-edge Schmidt Brothers utility knife.)

1. If the mango still has a nib at its top from where it was attached to the tree, remove the nib before starting to cut.
2. Gripping the mango with one hand, use the other to cut a small slice off the bottom of the mango, creating a flat, stable base. Stand the mango upright on this base.
3. Starting at the top of the mango, use the knife to slowly slice down in a C-shaped cut that goes around the pit, producing a nice big side.
4. Rotate the mango 180 degrees and do another top-to-bottom C-shaped cut around the pit.
5. Do the same thing with the remaining fruit around the pit, producing four mango sides in total. Discard the pit.
6. Take one of the sides in the palm of one hand, and use your knife to score the mango, creating a series of lines from top to bottom that are deep but don’t cut through the skin of the fruit.
7. Once you’ve made vertical cuts across the piece, rotate it 90 degrees and score the mango in the other direction, creating squares.
8. Set the knife aside and grip the mango piece with both hands, one on each side, thumbs underneath on the skin side. Push your thumbs up to cause the slice to go from concave to convex, with its squares now popping up.
9. Use the knife blade to slice off the squares.
10. Repeat steps 6 through 9 with the other three mango sides.

Happy eating!