Lava Mango

Lava Mango trees are medium sized, with sturdy trunks of dark brown wood streaked with faint reddish lines that hint at the warm, iron rich soil they favor. Their roots spread wide and relatively shallow through loose, black earth, taking advantage of ground that stays gently warm through much of the year. The canopy is dense and rounded, made up of long, glossy leaves that taper to a point and hang in clusters. Each leaf is a deep, lush green on top with a subtle bronze or copper shine beneath, and in dry, hot winds they sometimes curl slightly and rustle with a faint, dry crackle. The fruit itself is roughly mango shaped but a touch more angular, hanging heavy from short stems in ones and twos. As it ripens, the skin shifts from dull green to a deep red or ember orange, often mottled with darker patches that resemble cooled lava. When cut open, the flesh inside is a rich golden orange marbled with thin streaks of deeper red, and freshly picked fruit often feels pleasantly warm to the touch, as if it has held onto more of the day’s heat than it should. The inner pit is thick and hard, a charcoal grey with fine orange lines that echo the colors of the flesh around it.

Lava Mango is eaten fresh across Eshvel, its rich sweetness and gentle heat making it a centerpiece of street stalls, bathhouse snacks, and festival tables. Fruit is sliced and served with salt, Emberroot spice, or grilled in the skin so the sugars caramelize and the warmth rises through the flesh. Cooked down with vinegar, herbs, and Emberroot, it becomes a thick chutney that keeps for months and is traded to Gavorah and Shavah as a favored condiment for fish and roasted roots. Thin slices are dried into chewy, sweet hot strips that sailors and travellers carry as trail food, prized for staying soft and satisfying even in damp air. The pits are carefully cleaned and dried rather than thrown away. When dropped into hot water or wrapped in cloth and held close, they release a slow, steady warmth that makes them popular as pocket warmers in wind exposed work or on night watch. Some hedge alchemists shave the dark surface of the pits into tonics and cordials meant to kindle courage, passion, or resistance to chill. Lava Mango orchards are tempting targets for overplanting, but the trees demand warm volcanic soil and careful terracing. The Fire and Earth Stewards keep a close eye on expansion, wary that stripping hillsides for more fruit would bring erosion and landslides, and determined that Lava Mango remain a living gift of Eshvel rather than a crop wrung dry for foreign markets.