Dried Mango Recipe (Only 2 Ingredients)

One of the best things about Summer has got to be the delicious Summer fruits. Ever since I was a kid I’ve linked Summer to Mangos. We have a mango paddock with about 50 mango trees, some seasons there is more than we can eat. So prepare to get flooded with mango recipes! But this is my all time favourite.

One year we were making our way to Brisvagas in our old bomb of a car. No air con, crammed seats, packed to the roof, three squished kids in the back; the six hour drive took us about 8 (more if we broke down – which happened regularly) we stopped, a lot!

Do you have any idea how hungry three kids can get on a road trip? In mum’s attempt to feed us ‘healthy’ road trip snacks she purchased a bag of dehydrated mangos from one of the servos…. well, that moment was life changing (for all of us). They were so good, it became our regular halfway stop!!! Completely natural, sweet with a slight tang, chewy; delicious!

Now… some 20 years later I still rave about those servo mangos!!! I’ve purchased supermarket types, but they’re always coated in sugar and sickly sweet. But… I have worked out how to make my own… and I’ll share with you the secret to getting them just right!

I use Bowen Mangos they aren’t too stringy, they have a beautiful flavour, and they’re what we grow at home; so plenty available. The first step is to remove the skins and slice your mangos, slices of about 4 or 5mm are the perfect thickness. I’m always very careful not to waste any, we also dry the seeds out and plant them in pots, that’s how we grew our paddock full of mangos (blog post on that coming soon). And now for the secret step… dip each slice in some squeezed lemon juice before placing them on the dehydrator trays. They lemon juice stops the mango turning brown during the drying process, it also adds a slight tang that complements the sweetness of the mango; which is what makes them so delicious.

Slice up as many as you like, as the fruit dehydrates it shrinks and shrivels in size, so you might want to keep that in mind. I dehydrate mine at 70 degrees for about 8 hours, but it can take up to 12 hours depending on how many trays you use, and the thickness of slices.