The Mango Capital Of The World Sits Over 24 Flight Hours From The US
If you've ever had a ripe, sweet, juicy mango you don't need us to tell you how great they are. If you haven't, we strongly recommend trying one. One bite is enough to transport you to a tropical vacation with a hammock swaying lazily between two palm trees. (If you need help peeling your mango, you can use a water glass hack.) But what if you want to travel to the source? Well, if you're in the United States, you'll be traveling for a very long time. The mango capital of the world is Malihabad, India, and if you want to get there you'll have to spend an entire day cooped up inside one airplane or another.
Located in Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India which is also home to the Taj Mahal, Malihabad has long been a hub for mango growth. It's not exactly a convenient location for Americans to visit; to get there from Chicago, you'd have to fly for upwards of 30 hours with two layovers. In any case, it's a true cornucopia for the sweet, sunny fruits. Malihabad boasts thousands of mango orchards with a number of different cultivars, and the area is renowned for its high quality mangoes. One man in Malihabad even grows 300 varieties of mango on just one tree. Talk about working smarter not harder!
Malihabad mangoes are endangered by climate change
Unfortunately, Malihabad's status as the center of the mango world is in jeopardy. Climate change is set to destabilize the globe even further than it already has, and India (with its tropical heat and extreme weather patterns, like monsoons) is expected to get hit especially hard. The effects of climate change can already be seen in Malihabad, where the conditions that made it so ideal for mango cultivation are changing. (It's in similar company with crops like coffee, chocolate, and rice.)
Mango farmers in Malihabad report unpredictable weather patterns and heavy storms capable of ravaging an entire year's worth of crops are leading to dwindling yields. Unusually high heat in the spring has also negatively impacted the mango orchards in recent years, and (as more proof of how thoroughly climate change affects every aspect of life) pests that feed on mango plants are becoming more of a problem; further threatening the crown jewel of Malihabad. We're guessing not many Americans will be making the long journey to Malihabad just to eat mangoes straight from the source, but it's worth showing respect to this agricultural hub for all it has done and to grieve where it may go from here.