I was referring to the days when neighbors used to make stealth mango raids — not stealing your mangoes, you understand, but depositing their surplus mangoes on your porch and running away before you could shake your head and duck back in the door protesting, "No, no, no, get plenny!"

But the Islands' increasing urbanization, smaller lots and soaring land values, and the fact that mango trees are prodigious leaf droppers ("rubbish trees," gardeners like to call them), mean that few of us these days find ourselves dealing with a glut of mangoes, and few are the lucky beneficiaries of mango bounty. On O'ahu, you can add to the mix the fact that Punahou Carnival volunteers kapu hundreds of pounds of green mangoes each year for making that famed chutney.

In my far-off childhood, we ate mangoes green with salt or shoyu, or fresh with ice cream; we pickled them in green or red slices and we made the occasional mango pie. Mango quick bread was considered an innovation.

In the last decade, Island chefs have taken the mango on a more sophisticated ride. Sam Choy's brown-sugar mango glaze for grilled meats. D.K. Kodama's mango-crab hand-roll sushi. James Babian's Kaua'i Prawns, Mango and Hearts of Palm Salad. Holly Cintas' Mango Mai Tai Poke. Roy Yamaguchi's Grilled Chicken with Black Bean Mango Salsa. Pastry chef's Lisa Siu's Mango Manju.

There are mango salad dressings, mango relishes, mango smoothies, mango cobblers, mango sorbets.

The most common mango in stores right now is the Haden variety; in Chinatown, you also see the Pirie and the flat, oblong, yellow Ataulfo. This latter mango may be new to many Islanders; it shouldn't be confused with the stringy, undelicious "common" mango — it's sweet and not fibrous.

Mango cubes, step by step Photos by Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Cut two thick slices lengthways from both sides of a ripe, unpeeled mango.

Cut crisscross lines in the flesh, being sure not to cut through the skin.

Flip the slice inside out and eat with a fork. You can then readily cut the long strip left on the seed and chop it into chunks.

Mangos come in a number of varieties and tastes. Eat them juicy and ripe, green and dipped in shoyu, or baked in a dessert.

Popular varieties are Xoai Tuong and Keow Savoey, but there are many varieties, and the vendors I met didn't know what variety they were selling.

Mangoes have a tropical perfume (at least until they've spent too long on the ground) and a rich sweetness that, in the best varieties, is nicely balanced with a bit of citrusy acid and some piney-turpentine background. But they've got a few problems: A lot of people are allergic to mango sap (though they may be able to eat mango without ill effect). And mangoes are hard to peel, seed and eat.

If you're prone to allergies or skin sensitivities, wear disposable plastic gloves when you handle unpeeled mangoes. Wash the mangoes well after picking or purchasing, scrubbing the skin lightly with a vegetable brush; you may wish to use a commercial vegetable wash. Continue to wear gloves until you've peeled the mangoes.

Though some suggest cutting a mango lengthwise and then twisting it to remove the seed, as you do an avocado, this rarely works — usually the fruit tears, and the result is a mess.

If the mango is less than ripe (as when you're making chutney or pickled mango), you can use a wide-bladed, sharp vegetable peeler to peel it, then slice it into quarters and insert a short, sharp, flexible blade to cut away the seed. But ripe mangoes are very slippery and the flesh is easily crushed, so it's best to leave the skin on until you've freed the fruit from the seed.

Two techniques for peeling and seeding ripe mangoes:

• Mango cubes: Cut two thick slices lengthways from both sides of a ripe, unpeeled mango. Cut crisscross lines in the flesh, being sure not to cut through the skin. Flip the slice inside out and eat with fork. You can then readily cut the long strip left on the seed and chop it into chunks.

• Mango slices: Slice into the mango lengthwise from skin to seed all the way around. Insert a short, sharp, flexible blade and cut around seed on each side to free the flesh from the seed. Separate it into halves, cut into quarters and peel skin away.

Mangoes will ripen off the tree. You can simply leave them on a counter or place them in a paper bag with an apple to speed ripening. Refrigerate once the mango is ripe.