Sensation

Sensation is a commercially successful late-season mango cultivar from south Florida, USA — a variety prized for its arresting colour, its richly flavoured flesh and its place in the lineage of classic American mangoes. The original tree grew from a seed planted in North Miami, Florida in 1935, first fruited in 1941, and was named in 1949 before being moved to the Carmichael nursery in Perrine for propagation. For decades its parentage remained a mystery, until a 2005 pedigree analysis estimated that Sensation was likely a cross between 'Haden' and 'Brooks' — two of Florida's most influential foundation varieties.

The fruit is medium-sized and ovate-oblique in shape, with a small beak above the apex. It averages around 400 grams in weight, and is among the most striking-looking of all late-season mangoes — deep yellow at the base, with a prominent dark-red to plum-purple blush that covers most of the surface and numerous pale-yellow lenticels scattered across a medium-thick, tough skin that separates easily from the flesh.

Inside, the deep-yellow flesh is firm, juicy, and completely fibreless, with a sweet (TSS: up to 23 brix), distinctively mild flavour of good eating quality. The seed is monoembryonic, meaning the variety can only be propagated true-to-type through grafting, and the stone accounts for only about 5.8% of the fruit's weight, translating into excellent pulp recovery (more than 75%) for a mango of its size. The shelf life of Sensation is very high: 14-18 days.

Sensation is a late-season variety, ripening from late July to August in West Bengal, India; and late July through to September in Florida. The trees are moderately vigorous, developing into a broad, rounded, and symmetrical canopy that responds well to training and pruning, making the variety adaptable to managed orchard layouts, larger gardens, and rooftop or container plantings where height is controlled. It is a heavy and regular bearer.

Sensation trees are highly disease-resistant.

Ticking almost all the boxes of criteria for commercial farming, Sesation is highly recommended. To create new commercial mango varieties for India, Sensation has heavily been used by the Indian scientists.

ColourDark-red to plum-purple blushAverage Weight400 gramsSweetnessTSS up to 23 BrixPulp Recovery75%Shelf Life14-18 daysSeed TypeMonoembryonicBearingRegular and heavy bearer