Mango Management

Cutting a mango is truly an art. To get the pleasure of tasting the moist, buttery, mild flavor of the fruit, to get as much of that luscious fruit into a bowl by itself for indulgent individual consumption or use in a salad or dessert, you have to basically cut squares out of a soft, round object. How do you do that? What mental functions do use if you have never prepared a mango?

You know what you have in front of you. Your Extroverted Sensing is “experiencing the moment” and lusting over a lovely, golden, soft, Autalfa Mango about the size of your fist. It is round on one end and has a stem on the other. It probably has a pit but you don’t really know the size if you are new to the mango world. How do you get into that mango?

You can always use Introverted Sensing and “review the past” for similar activities. What other fruit is ovoid in shape and, for best usage, requires cutting into square or rectangular shapes? What other fruit has a similar skin or outer covering? What other fruit has a pit in the middle that you have to work around?

You can always use Extroverted Thinking by using “tried and true” processes and go to an external resource such as Martha Stewart online or a YouTube clip for an expert demonstration. You might prefer models or sequential visual illustrations so you search under Cooks Illustrated magazine.

You might tire easily of thinking and use your emotions to manage the mango. You have “connected” with the mango. You love mango, love the texture in your mouth, its delightful smoothness. You feel you should just dive in and take a stab at the front - see how large that pit really is.

The knife goes in. The pit is “right there” - less than an inch you feel resistance. Now what? Do you keep going? Do you cut the mango, carving out chunks as you go? Try your best to preserve every bit of fruit? Or do you stop and peel? Do you take a step back, think about it, analyze it, and reconsider your course of action? Does Feeling/Emotion take over or does Thinking/Strategy take over? How do your conscious preferences initiate and how might your shadow functions antagonize or play with you?

Good luck and great eating!