Mangoes

Despite the title, these aren’t tropical fruit. “Mangoes” is the historical American name for stuffed pickled bell peppers, a tradition that goes back to 18th and 19th century Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and parts of Appalachia. The peculiar name came about because Indian mango pickles were a luxury import, and creative American cooks started calling any pickled stuffed vegetable a “mango."

The construction is genuinely clever. Hollowed-out bell peppers get brined for 24 hours to soften the skin and draw out bitterness, then stuffed with seasoned cabbage, sewn or pinned closed, and packed in jars with sweet pickling brine.

The pepper shells act as edible containers that pick up the brine’s flavor while keeping the cabbage filling pristine inside. When you cut into a finished mango, you get a striking cross-section of pickled cabbage inside its pepper shell.

This is genuinely historical food and worth making just to taste a piece of forgotten American culinary heritage. They were served as a side at Sunday dinners across the rural Midwest well into the 20th century.

Pro Tips

• Use thick-walled bell peppers. Thin-walled peppers collapse during the brine and can’t hold the filling.

• Drain the salted peppers thoroughly after the 24-hour brine. Residual salt water dilutes the pickling brine and weakens the preservation.

• Use proper canning jars and follow water-bath processing exactly. Improper canning risks spoilage.

• Let the jars sit for at least 4 weeks before opening. The flavors develop dramatically over the first month.

Variations

• Use a mix of red, yellow, and green bell peppers for a more colorful jar.

• Stir 1 cup grated carrot into the cabbage filling for sweetness and color.

• Add a teaspoon of celery seed and a dried chili pepper to each jar for extra layers of flavor.