toronto rare mangoes

Markham grocery store selling rare Japanese mangoes for almost $90 apiece

It's super rare fruit season in Toronto and surrounding areas and this week's latest find is a sweet orange mango for an exorbitant price.

FreshWay Foodmart in Markham is selling the pricey but sweet Japanese Miyazaki Kanjuku mangoes for a mere $88 a pop - not exactly pocket change.

The red and dinosaur egg-shaped jewels are flown in from Japan and cushioned in their very own sweater-like pink foam sleeves, ensuring they are not damaged, and then closed in their own plastic case.

Last spring we caught these mangoes selling at $168 for a trio and while I'm no math expert, I can easily compute that $90 for one is more expensive than $169 for three.

Coming all the way from the tropical island of Kyushu in Miyazaki Prefecture, an atmosphere with near perfect-growing conditions, these mangoes are known for being extra sweet (sweeter than their Alphonso species cousins).

They also have a very different and strict growing process, with each fruit placed in a small net suspended from a wire at the top of the greenhouse. When it is ripe, the fruit falls from the plant and into the net.

Each mango comes with a promise of having 15 per cent sugar content and a minimum weight of 350 grams.

Online sources describe these rare treats as having a creamy texture, fragrant flavour and juicy flesh and are only available between April and August.

Other incredible fruits grown in Miyazaki include kumquats and lychee. The area is known to be one of the top fruit producers in Japan.

If somebody does buy these glorious fruits and tries them out, please let me know how they taste.

If you're in the mood for other expensive, international produce, try these $30 Spanish strawberries. 

Lead photo by

Charles Yu


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