Green mango substitutes

The closest textural match there is, and already the basis of the sister dish som tam, so it belongs in exactly the same recipes. Hard, crisp, faintly grassy and almost entirely neutral.

Best for

Thai green mango salad, Vietnamese goi salads, som tam, slaws, Filipino ensalada, pickles

Papaya has almost no acidity of its own, which is the whole gap you are filling with lime, and it is milder and less fruity, so the salad tastes cleaner and less perfumed. Use a fruit that is completely hard and dark green; anything starting to turn orange has gone soft and sweet and is useless here.

The practical answer for most Western kitchens, and better than it sounds: apple brings both real sourness and a hard snap, which is more than most substitutes manage at once.

Best for

Thai and Vietnamese salads, slaws, salsas, chutneys, fish accompaniments, grain bowls

Apple is sweeter and its acidity is malic rather than the sharper citric-tasting sourness of green mango, so the salad reads rounder and slightly cidery. It also browns fast, so julienne it last and toss it in the lime immediately. Leave the skin on for colour and structure.

Literally green mango, dried and ground, so it is the only substitute that tastes exactly right. Unbeatable in anything simmered, where texture no longer matters.

Best for

dals and curries, chana masala, chutneys, spice rubs, chaat, sabzis

Delivers pure sourness and the distinctive musky mango tang with no bulk, no moisture and no crunch at all, so it is no use whatsoever in a fresh salad. It also goes cloudy and slightly gritty if you add too much; a teaspoon goes a long way. Add it near the end of cooking.

The right choice for the sour job in Thai, Filipino and South Indian cooking, where tamarind and green mango are already close cousins in the same role.

Best for

pad thai and Thai dressings, sinigang and Filipino sours, sambar and rasam, chutneys, curries

Deeper, darker, fruitier and more molasses-like than green mango's clean sharp sourness, and it will tint a pale dressing brown. Contributes no crunch, so pair it with shredded papaya, apple or cucumber if the dish needs body.

Useful improvisations. An underripe stone fruit gives you a tart, dense, mango-adjacent flesh, while jicama gives you a superb crunch with no flavour at all.

Best for

salads, slaws, salsas, fruit plates with chilli and salt, spring rolls

Underripe nectarine is the closer of the two on flavour and can be genuinely good, though it softens quickly once dressed. Jicama stays crisp for hours but is completely bland and slightly sweet, so it needs both lime and salt to earn its place.

Worth naming honestly as the bottom of the list. These fill the volume and give you something to chew, and with enough lime a Thai-style salad still tastes good, but it is no longer a green mango salad.

Best for

quick salads, slaws, spring roll fillings, relishes

Cucumber is watery and will dilute the dressing, so salt it for ten minutes and squeeze it out first. Kohlrabi is the better bet because it is dense and stays crunchy. Neither has any sourness or any of green mango's resinous, faintly piney aroma, so lean on lime, fish sauce and chilli to carry the dish.