Honc Cambodiana is awesome.

Honc Cambodiana?! Never heard of this cultivar. Do you have some informations/pictures?

I have only seen one Honc Cambodiana tree and it was at TREC in Homestead. After walking through TREC and sampling tons of different varieties, I stumbled upon the Honc Cambodiana and tried a perfectly tree ripened fruit. I touched the fruit and fell into my hand. It had no anthracnose, jelly seed, or any other problem. It had a very strong spicy flavor. Some may describe the flavor as resinous. For those that do not like the flavorful mangos but like the ones that are just sweet would probably not like the HC. I forgot to take any pics but I remember it being yellow and I read somewhere that it is polyembryonic.

I've only grown and tasted 3 varieties in my yard so far, but the Keitt was something beyond this world to me, though I know it's not in anybody's top tier right now.

Growing in the desert I think is a factor that might change the game of top tier mangos as I think the heat must impart different qualities of sugar and spice to each kind of fruit that might vary in different climates. As your coastal CA climate does, as Florida's does.

Someday, I'd love for us to be able to send each other the same fruit from the diff. growing climates just to see how things compare.

Of course, individual preferences overlay even all these potentially different factors, so this favorite Mango list will never be stable.

I got like 7 more varieties to go for testing, and hopefully next year the bounty will increase....

mangoARF

What about Kent? Although I've never tasted any of the above, I've tasted many others and have always come back to Kent as the "gold standard." To me it's perfectly balanced and complex--sort of a fruit-cocktail flavor. Does anyone know of any mango that has a flavor comparable (and similar) to Kent that ripens in the same months but on a much smaller tree for a small yard (where I'd like to plant 2 other mango trees)?

@mangodog Keitt as a commercial variety is probably one of the best. older plantations that grew Tommy Atkins, Palmer, Haden in the D.R. are moving to Keitt. because of its decent taste even if picked green, & disease resistance it does well even in wet weather. and long season, I saw the first Keitts in July, and some still being sold in stores in late Nov. when i left.

The tree is very productive. a grower told me the only thing he doesn't like about them is their droopy growth.

Haden and Palmer are still grown, even organically in the drier regions of the Island.

I heard through the grape vine that someone planted a few thousand Alphonso, but I have not confirmed this, I have been trying to find out who. as you mentioned, growing a mango in a desert or semi arid region may change the taste of the mango.

Alphonso have a big rep back in India as being the best, but from what I have read from those that have tried Alphonso grown in Fla. is that "its nothing to write home about".

@johnb51 I have only tried 1 Kent and it was very good. and I have never seen any negative comments about them.

It seems to me that people tend to "get bored" with a particular mango, or their tastes change after a while.
or maybe its just a case of "the grass being greener..."
if you do a search on "best mango variety" in this forum you will notice that "favorites" have changed over the years. nothing wrong with that, variety is the spice of life I believe. but those "old" good mangoes are still good in my book.

"It seems to me that people tend to "get bored" with a particular mango, or their tastes change after a while."

That's why it's a good idea to have several varieties of mangoes, including strong and simple flavored mangoes so you don't get bored. :-)

John51:

I might suggest Beverly as a late bearer with good flavor, some might say that is equal to or even better than Kent.
The growth habit of Beverly is much smaller than Kent.

Harry

I would go -in my marginal climate- with Manila,Baileys Marvel(I think will be a true tree mango in time) Keitt..and the others that Tammy has going. At least I know those make sweet fruit-better then store bought,granted smaller than those from big tropics of Mexico grown tree. Well,Sinaloa Mangos in summer..best I ever had from a local produce store that is no more..arghh!

mangodog

In my climate the earliest and smaller size fruits have a better chance of ripening. I was extremely disappointed with my two monster size Lancetillas.....I may be donating this tree to you if it doesn't improve in the next couple of years. My first keitt was very good and I'm waiting on the second one right now. I have one mango left on the trees (Mallika) that flowered mid July. I'm just going to leave it there and wait for a warn week to see if it ripens.

JF

Harry, I've had a couple really good Beverlys from my tree, but usually have bad luck as far as picking and eating at the right time for optimal flavor. Do you pick them at a certain size? Or a certain amount of yellow blush?

I had a Baileys Marvel tree and the mangoes were great-really big, firm and sweet. The fruit kept well-I mailed some to my brother in upstate NY and they took the trip without problem. The tree also had me a lot of mangoes. That tree was from Excalibur. Anyway, just wanted to give my recommendation.