Trader Joe's Dried Mango Chokanan Variety

To understand this post, I'm assuming y'all have a baseline knowledge of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. By that, I mean the interpretation where she looks for that bowl of porridge and the bed that is "just right," not the one where she crashes an innocent (are they really innocent though? Maybe they should have paid more attention to the ADT guy who came soliciting while they were trying to watch their Netflix in peace) bear pad, eats their food, breaks their chairs, and ruins all their stuff like an entitled princess. Where does this variety of dried mango sit with me? In the "just right" zone. 


I have tried several varieties that TJ's offers, although I skipped out on the dried version of the carabao one from earlier this year. I've never heard of the Chokanan variety, which means that I humbly admit that I've probably only tried maybe 5 different varieties and that I've never been to Thailand. Apparently, Chokanan is the MVP mango of Thailand. These mangoes are sweet, tender, and can produce fruit twice a year, maximizing the commercial value for both fresh and processed exports. 



Look at that ingredient list. Just mango. Nothing else obscuring its taste. Yes. 


1) Color: It's not the prettiest. It looks darker, but to me it looks real and not at all artificial. Although to be fair, the pieces in my bag were all about the same. 

2) Texture: This mango definitely has the best texture out of all the TJ's dried mangoes that I've tried. Some pieces are quite thin like the Just Mango slices, minus the waffle pattern, but generally the texture is nice and chewy. These mangos are mostly in strips, so it makes for a very satisfying chew without the toughness that would make it like shoe leather. 

3) Taste: I absolutely love the taste. It's perfectly sweet, definitely sweeter than Just Mango but not so overly sweet like the Soft & Juicy Mango. A "real mango taste" is still detectable. IT'S JUST RIGHT Y'ALL. 

4) Price: Probably the only downside to this product is that for the same amount of product at $3.99 for 6 oz.,  it's $1 more than the Just Mango and $2 more than the Soft & Juicy ones. Will I be buying these every trip? Probably not. But even still it's not so horrifically expensive that I would never buy it again. Consider this like almond butter or avocado toast. Kinda pricey but occasionally worth the splurge to #treatyoself, unless you're the millennial who is plopping down so much on the regular that you won't ever be able to buy a house (that was a joke in case you missed that). 

(This is the part where A tries it, shrugs, and says..what's the big deal. It's just mango. UM THAT'S THE POINT. I have conveniently left him out of this review. :D) 

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Dried Mango Chokanan Variety. MY NEW FAV. Perfectly chewy, naturally sweet. Worth it. 9 out of 10. 


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