What it is
Mango ice (芒果冰) is shaved ice covered in cubes of ripe mango, usually with condensed milk and a scoop of mango ice cream or sorbet. The base may be ordinary shaved ice or snow ice (雪花冰), fine flakes shaved from a frozen milk or fruit block. It usually skips the tapioca, taro balls and grass jelly of traditional shaved ice.
Where it came from
The dish is fairly young, and its beginnings are not settled. English Wikipedia calls its exact origin unclear and repeats a story about farmers soaking sour, unripe surplus mangoes in salt water and then sugar. That pickled green mango, 'lover's fruit' (情人果), still turns up on some bowls.
The fresh-fruit version most people know is tied to Ice Monster (冰館), which opened on Yongkang Street in Taipei in 1997. A 2019 Mirror Media profile says co-founder 羅駿樺 and his then wife 張介梅 developed the dessert there, first as shaved ice with mango sauce and freshly cut mango. He has said the scoop of mango sorbet on top began as an offhand addition and became the look copied everywhere. Business Today calls 張介梅 the 'godmother of mango ice'. The shop's success brought nearly ten mango ice shops to the street. It closed in January 2010, and the Ice Monster brand later continued under 羅駿樺.
Irwin mangoes (愛文) were brought to Taiwan from Florida in 1954 and promoted in Tainan's Yujing district from 1962.
How it is made
Shaved ice, or a block of snow ice, is shaved into a bowl and built up into a mound. Ripe mango, usually Irwin, is cut into cubes and piled over it. Condensed milk goes on next, often with a mango sauce, and a scoop of mango ice cream or sorbet usually sits on top. You Jian Ice Shop (有間冰舖) in Yujing freezes plain mango juice into its block with no added flavouring. Extras vary by shop, from candied lover's fruit to a custard pudding.
How to eat it
Mango ice follows the summer mango season. Some shops stop serving it or close in winter, and Tai Cheng (泰成水果冰店) in Tainan switches to Hami melon ice. Menus list it as Irwin mango ice (愛文芒果冰) or mango snow ice (芒果雪花冰). Some people let it melt a little and sip it through a straw like a mango milk slush.
Around Taiwan
- Tainan
- Yujing (玉井), in Tainan's eastern hills, began planting Irwin mangoes widely in the 1960s. Its name is now almost a byword for mango in Taiwan, it holds a mango festival every July, and shops there sell mango ice made with fruit from the area.
- North
- Taipei's Yongkang Street is where the fresh-mango version took off. Ice Monster (冰館) opened there in 1997, and close to ten other mango ice shops followed.
