Okinawan mangoes

Mango reached Japan from Taiwan around 1950, according to JA Okinawa, and the main varieties are Irwin and Keitt. Irwin fruit weigh 400 to 500 g and turn red as they ripen. Growers raise them in plastic houses, chiefly to keep the rain of the early-summer wet season off the flowers, and they keep honeybees inside to pollinate them. JA Okinawa names Tomigusuku and Okinawa City as main producing areas, and Japanese Wikipedia ranks Okinawa first in Japan, ahead of Miyazaki and Kagoshima, in a national crop of about 3,000 tonnes a year.

The skin of a ripe mango turns glossy and the scent grows stronger, and a white powdery bloom means the fruit needs more time. JA Okinawa advises keeping an unripe mango at room temperature, where it ripens slowly. Miyako has a run of mango farm cafés, from Blue Turtle Farm a minute from the airport to Utopia Farm in Ueno, and in summer they build parfaits and shaved ice around the island's fruit.

Winter is out of season. Between December and March, Miyako cafés such as Utopia Farm and Blue Turtle Farm keep a shorter mango menu built on stored fruit, so order a mango dessert in February with that in mind, and look at the citrus and greens on the farm-market tables.