This manual was created by graduate students and their partners as part of a Trellis Fund project, led by Methodist University College Ghana.

It written by Nicholas F. Reitz, Sidrah Rafique, and Daniel Owusu Kyeremateng and published in August 2018.

Introduction and purpose

Mangos are an economically important fruit and are a significant source of income for many farmers in tropical areas. However, harvested mangos are highly perishable and can spoil quickly if not harvested, stored, and transported correctly. The purpose of this manual is present postharvest processing options for mango growers to increase the value and shelf life of harvested mangos.

This manual was produced as part of the 2018 Trellis Fund project “Training in value addition of mangoes in Kintampo Municipality" through the Methodist University College, Ghana. This manual is meant to be used as supplemental material for the above-mentioned project’s workshops. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this manual contains popular and effective practices for increasing the value and shelf life of mangos.

Reason and importance of processing

After harvest, mangos remain living and undergo many of the biological processes common to living plants. These include consumption of energy and oxygen, production of heat, production of carbon dioxide, and deterioration of quality. Additionally, as mangos are stored after harvest, they become increasingly susceptible to mold and decay. As such, the shelf life of mangos is limited, and significant losses occur due to spoilage.

Processing can extend the shelf life of mangos by stopping many of the biological practices that decrease quality and by creating an adverse environment for microbes responsible for spoilage. Processed products such as juices and dried fruit are no longer living, thus spoilage is no longer related to biological factors, but rather microbial growth and chemical reactions related to quality loss.

As such, processing conditions, the products, and packaging must be optimized to slow or prevent microbial growth and chemical degradation. It should be noted that some processed products, such as fresh cut fruit, are still living and thus biological processes should be considered along with microbial growth and chemical degradation.

Following are procedures for the processing of mango products on a small scale. Because waste is produced during the processing of many of these products, a short guide to composting mango wastes is included.

Processing methods included in this manual:

• Juice processing and bottling
• Milkshakes
• Mango jam
• Fresh cut mango
• Mango yogurt
• Frozen mango desserts
• Composting mango waste