Waipahu High School's Pickled Mango

Ingredients:

2 cups water
2 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3 tablespoons Hawaiian salt
1 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons li hing mui powder
Red food coloring
1 small package sweet li hing mui
2 or more large green mangos, peeled and sliced into long, skinny and thick bite-sized pieces

In a small pot, boil water, turn off heat, add brown sugar and salt, stir until dissolved.
Add more water, if needed, to loosen.
Remove from heat and add rice vinegar, li hing powder, and just a few drops of red food coloring.
Add li hing mui to taste and stir until all ingredients are incorporated.
Cool in refrigerator.
Place peeled and sliced green mango in a mason jar and tightly pack as much in jar as possible, then pour cooled “sauce” into jar with green mango and fill to top and cover tightly.
Let it sit in refrigerator for at least 3 days to fully soak up the li hing mui pickling “sauce”.

Serves 6.

Tip: Not all mangos change color as they ripen, so the best way to tell if they are ripe is to gently squeeze them. A ripe mango will give a little.