Alphonso Mango Packs

Three box sizes, all the same fruit from the same trees, picked and graded the same way. The only real decisions are how many mangoes your household can eat in the week after they ripen, and how much the courier is going to cost you per mango. This page covers both, because almost everyone chooses on price per piece and then regrets it on day five when twenty mangoes come ripe at once.

The courier maths nobody mentions

This is the part that changes the answer most and the part never printed on a mango listing. Courier charges for a fruit consignment are priced per box and per route, not per mango. The box charge for a 48 peti is a little higher than for a 12 — it is heavier — but nowhere near four times higher. So the shipping cost per mango falls sharply as the box gets bigger.

On a long route — Ratnagiri to Delhi, say, rather than to Pune — the courier element on a pack of 12 can be a meaningful fraction of what you pay for the fruit. On a 48 it becomes a rounding error. If you are a long way from the Konkan and you are confident you can eat the fruit, the bigger box is not a little cheaper per mango, it is substantially cheaper. If you are in Maharashtra, the difference is much smaller and the eating question matters more than the shipping one.

The ripening problem, which is the real constraint

A box of Alphonso does not ripen as a unit. Fruit arrives mature and hard, and over the following few days it softens in waves — a few on day three, the bulk around day four and five, stragglers after that. That is normal and it is what hay-ripened fruit does.

The consequence is arithmetic. Twelve mangoes peaking over four days is three or four a day, which a household of three finishes without thinking about it. Forty-eight mangoes peaking over the same window is a dozen or more ripe on the same afternoon, and unless you are sorting the box each morning and moving the ready ones to the fridge, a good number of them will go over before anyone gets to them.

So the honest rule is not “buy the biggest box you can afford”. It is: buy the biggest box you can eat, give away or pulp within about a week of it ripening. A 48 that loses eight mangoes to neglect is worse value than a 24 that loses none. Our guide on whether to refrigerate mangoes covers how to hold ripe fruit back safely, and the aamras guide is what to do when a glut arrives anyway.

Pack of 12

Our smallest box. Sized for two or three people, and the right choice for a first order with us — it is a sensible way to check that the fruit, the ripening and the packing are what we say they are before you commit to a bigger one. It is the most expensive box per mango and the one where courier cost bites hardest, and we would still tell a new customer a long way away to start here.

Pack of 24

The size most of our customers land on. Enough for a family of four to six to actually get through in season at a better price per mango than the 12, and small enough that the peak-day problem is manageable without a system — six to nine ripe at once fits in a vegetable drawer. If you already know you like the fruit and you are ordering for a household rather than a trial, this is usually the right box.

Pack of 48

Our largest box and the best value per mango by a clear margin, especially on a long route. It suits a large household that goes through fruit fast, a family splitting a peti with neighbours or relatives, and gifting or event orders. It is also the box that most rewards a bit of discipline: open it the morning it arrives, lay the fruit out in a single layer rather than leaving it stacked, and sort it every morning after that.

For corporate or wedding orders, tell us the delivery window early. Bulk orders are the ones most exposed to a bad fortnight of weather, and lead time is the only thing that protects them.

What is in every box, whatever the size

Mangoes picked at proper maturity with the stalk on, packed raw in gawat — dry grass — in a single layer, stems up, not touching. We sell by count and not by weight, so the number in the box is exactly what you are paying for and you can check it the moment you open the lid. More on how the fruit is picked and sorted is in our guide to how a Konkan orchard harvests and grades Alphonso.

There will be sap marks and small skin blemishes on fruit that is otherwise excellent. We grade out bruised and undersized fruit, not cosmetic marks, and an unmarked Alphonso has usually been washed, waxed or treated. What to look for is in the guide to spotting real Ratnagiri Alphonso.

Price and availability

Alphonso is a seasonal crop and the rate moves with the day's supply, so we do not quote a fixed number here — it would be wrong within a week. Message us on WhatsApp with your pin code and the pack size and we will confirm today's price and whether it is in stock.

Before you order

• Your box will arrive hard and mature-green, not ripe. That is correct, not a fault. See how to ripen Alphonso at home, day by day.
• Do not refrigerate unripe fruit. Chilling a raw mango causes permanent injury and it will never sweeten properly afterwards.
• Ordering outside the season? Check the month-by-month season calendar first — we will not ship fruit that is not genuinely in season.
• Long delivery route? Factor the extra day or two into which pack you choose, and read how mangoes travel across India.
• More questions before ordering are answered on the FAQ page.