Alphonso Mango grading

Mango grading sorts Alphonso fruit by weight (150–300 g), shape, colour and Brix (18–24°) into four bands — Small, Medium, Extra Large and Jumbo. GI No. 139 covers Ratnagiri and Devgad Alphonso. Graded boxes start from ₹1,849. The 2027 mango season starts on 1 February 2027, and fresh mangoes are out of stock until then.

Buy Graded Alphonso Mango Online

Every box we send has been through a full grading run — weight, shape, surface scan, and a final eye check. If a fruit doesn't pass, it doesn't go in the box. Here are the two products related to this guide.

Ratnagiri vs Devgad — Grade Comparison

Both origins carry GI No. 139. The differences show up in fruit character, not in grading standards — both go through the same four weight bands and the same AI scan before packing.

Parameter	Ratnagiri Alphonso	Devgad Alphonso
GI Authorised User	AU/5974/GI/139/260	AU/6932
Season window	February – June (peak March – May)	February – June (peak March – May)
Brix at full ripeness	18–24°	18–24° (typically upper end)
Small grade	150–180 g	150–180 g
Medium grade	180–225 g	180–225 g
Extra Large grade	250–275 g	250–275 g
Jumbo grade	275–300 g	275–300 g
Colour profile	Deep saffron-yellow	Bright golden-yellow
Repeat-order preference	North India leans Ratnagiri	Mumbai leans Devgad
Indicative price range	₹1,849 to ₹5,399	See product page

That repeat-order split wasn't our assumption. It came out of order data from 47,000+ customers since 2020 — and it has held consistent across three seasons.

Delivery Across India

Fruit is dispatched at 70–80% ripeness — firm enough for transit, fully ripe within about three days of delivery. The supply chain runs like this: harvest to the Ratnagiri or Devgad packhouse in roughly two hours, post-harvest cooling, then 10–12 hours by air-conditioned vehicle to the Mumbai packhouse, 24–48 hours of natural hay-bed ripening there, then dispatch.

Orders placed before 12 noon IST (Monday to Saturday) are dispatched the same day. Delivery takes 1 to 3 days for most PIN codes and 1 to 2 days to most metros, depending on your PIN code. Fresh mangoes are delivered by Blue Dart to more than 4,700 PIN codes. We do not sell fresh Alphonso mango from July to January. If you are reading this outside the season window, the mango listings will show out of stock — that is honest, not a technical error.

Each box is a 5-ply corrugated fibreboard (CFB) unit, 130 gsm paper, alternate flute orientation, with reinforced corners, a 12-slot partition and six air holes top and bottom. Every fruit sits in a foam-net sleeve (flat width 50–55 mm, length 100–120 mm by fruit size) on a hay bed. The sleeve prevents lenticel blackening from skin friction — a specific Alphonso vulnerability — and the diamond mesh keeps airflow moving so condensation doesn't trigger anthracnose.

How Mango Grading Works

Mango grading is the process of sorting fruit by weight, shape, surface condition, and internal quality before packing. For Alphonso, it matters more than for most varieties because the skin is thin, the lenticels mark easily, and spongy tissue can develop inside a fruit that looks perfect outside.

The Four Weight Bands

We weigh and grade every fruit. No box leaves our Malvan packing centre or Devgad packing point without a complete grading run. The four bands are:

• Small: 150–180 g — intense flavour concentration, preferred for aamras
• Medium: 180–225 g — the most common grade, balanced size and yield
• Extra Large: 250–275 g — gift boxes, corporate orders
• Jumbo: 275–300 g — top of the range, limited per season

We sell in half-dozen, one-dozen and two-dozen boxes. The per-fruit price changes with grade — which is why the range on the Ratnagiri Alphonso listing runs from ₹1,849 to ₹5,399.

AI-Assisted Quality Scanning

Weight bands alone do not catch everything. We run every fruit through an AI/ML-assisted machine scan that checks for spongy tissue (an internal disorder that x-ray imaging detects) and external deformities — skin breaks, stem damage, shape anomalies. A fruit that weighs 260 g and passes the visual test can still fail the internal scan. Those go out of the line. They don't go to a "second grade" box to sell cheaper. They come out.

This step exists because 46% of our customers reorder. If the scan misses a spongy fruit, that customer notices — and they don't come back.

Does Brix Factor Into Grading?

Not directly at the sorting stage — Brix is a post-harvest quality marker, not a physical parameter you can sort by fruit-by-fruit on a grading line. What grading does is remove fruit that is visibly underripe (pale skin, hard to the touch at the stem end) or overripe (soft at the base). At full ripeness, GI No. 139 Alphonso from our orchards runs 18–24° Brix, with Devgad fruit typically at the upper end of that range. The grading process maximises how many fruits in a box actually hit that range when you open it.

Natural Ripening — What It Means for Grade

We use natural hay-bed (Aadi) ripening only, in temperature-controlled rooms. No ethylene chambers, no calcium carbide, no artificial ripening agents of any kind. The 24–48 hours at the Mumbai packhouse is ripening on hay, monitored by eye and by feel — not triggered by gas.

This matters for grading because carbide-ripened mangoes ripen unevenly. A fruit that looks golden may be raw inside, or the skin colour has been chemically advanced while the flesh is still firm and tasteless. Hay ripening follows the fruit's own ethylene production. Colour, aroma, and softness align. When our grader picks up a fruit at the packhouse and it has the right give at the apex with a clean saffron skin, it goes in the box. That judgement call only works when ripening has been natural.

Our mangoes are independently tested by Envirocare Labs Pvt. Ltd., Thane (NABL accredited, certificate TC-8284; report 01/ETHAP2500044, issued 5 April 2025). All 28 residues tested fell within Codex maximum residue limits. 27 of 28 were below the limit of quantification (0.01 mg/kg). We say "all residues within Codex limits" — not "pesticide-free", because one residue (thiamethoxam, 0.013 mg/kg against a limit of 0.2 mg/kg) was detected within limits. Testing runs weekly through the season.

GI Tag and Origin

Alphonso mango holds GI Tag No. 139, covering Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. Powle Home Foods is a GI Authorised User — certificate AU/5974/GI/139/260, Registry Certificate No. 4163, issued 16 October 2019. The Devgad Authorised User number is AU/6932.

We source from 48 coastal villages across Ratnagiri and Devgad — from Pawas and Golap in Ratnagiri taluka to Devgad, Jamsande and Vijaydurg in Devgad taluka, to Achara and Tondavali in Malvan and Vengurla. Orchards are typically 12–25 years old, sea-facing, selected by Prashant Powle for Brix consistency and alternate-bearing management. Fruit is harvested by hand using a Nutan/Zela pole fitted with a catching net and cutting mechanism — the tree is never shaken, the fruit never falls.

Ratnagiri Alphonso won the Gold Medal at the national One District One Product (ODOP) Awards 2024. That is a district-product award, not an award to AlphonsoMango.in — but it tells you something about why Ratnagiri fruit commands the prices it does.

The Ratnagiri Hapus origin guide covers the agronomy in more detail. For a full look at how Indian mango varieties compare, the Indian mango varieties guide is a good next read.

How to Order

The 2027 mango season starts on 1 February 2027, and fresh mangoes are out of stock until then.

1. Step 1 — Select your grade. On the Ratnagiri Alphonso product page, choose the weight grade that suits you — Small through Jumbo, priced from ₹1,849 to ₹5,399 depending on grade and box size.
2. Step 2 — Add to cart. Pick your box size (half dozen, one dozen or two dozen) and proceed to checkout.
3. Step 3 — We dispatch. Your box is dispatched as described in the delivery section above.

If your box arrives with damaged fruit, photograph it and contact us within 24 hours of delivery. We replace damaged fruit 100% — no argument, no returns process.

Browse the full mango collection to see all available grades and origins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Authority

AlphonsoMango.in is operated by Powle Home Foods, founded in 2017 by Prashant Powle. The operating entity was registered in July 2019 and the first full commercial season ran in 2020. Credentials: GI Authorised User AU/5974/GI/139/260 (GI No. 139, Registry Certificate No. 4163, issued 16 October 2019); FSSAI 10020022011783; APEDA 225579. All fruit is natural hay-bed ripened — no carbide, no ethylene chambers, no artificial ripening agents. Prashant Powle was interviewed by The Economic Times in June 2026 as a GI-certified Alphonso grower and trader on the challenges of that season's yield. 47,000+ customers have ordered since 2020; 46% reorder. Verified buyer reviews average 4.35★ on Judge.me.

Source: Powle Home Foods (AlphonsoMango.in), GI Authorised User certificate AU/5974/GI/139/260 issued by the GI Registry, Chennai, 16 October 2019, covering Alphonso mango GI No. 139 (Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts).

People Also Ask

What are the 7 classifications of mangoes?

There is no universal 7-classification system for mangoes. Most grading standards — including the Alphonso grading we use — sort fruit into four weight bands: Small (150–180 g), Medium (180–225 g), Extra Large (250–275 g) and Jumbo (275–300 g), combined with checks for shape, surface condition and internal quality.

Some export standards add sub-grades within these bands, but any source listing exactly seven fixed mango classifications is likely mixing up variety names, ripeness stages or regional trade terms rather than citing one verified standard.

How are mangoes graded?

Every Alphonso fruit we pack is weighed and placed into one of four bands: Small (150–180 g), Medium (180–225 g), Extra Large (250–275 g) or Jumbo (275–300 g). After weighing, each fruit goes through an AI/ML-assisted machine scan that checks for spongy tissue internally and surface deformities externally. Fruit that fails either check leaves the line entirely.

No box leaves our Malvan packing centre or Devgad packing point without this full grading run — weight, machine scan and a final eye check.

What does 4959 mean on a mango?

The number 4959 on a mango sticker is a PLU (Price Look-Up) code used in supermarkets, mainly in North America, to identify the variety at checkout. PLU 4959 typically refers to Ataulfo (Honey) mangoes. It is a retail inventory code, not a quality or grading mark, and it has no relevance to GI-tagged Alphonso mangoes sold directly from Indian orchards.

Alphonso mangoes sold through Indian D2C channels like ours are graded by weight and internal scan, not PLU codes — those are a supermarket convention, not an agronomy standard.

Is mango a high quality brand?

Mango is a Spanish fashion retailer, not a mango producer or fruit brand. If you are searching for a high-quality source of GI-tagged Alphonso mangoes, the relevant credentials are a GI Authorised User number, FSSAI registration and independent residue testing — not a brand name. Grading quality comes from fruit selection, AI-assisted scanning and natural ripening practice.

For GI No. 139 Alphonso from Ratnagiri and Devgad, our Ratnagiri Alphonso Mango at alphonsomango.in/products/ratnagiri-alphonso-mango is independently tested with all residues within Codex limits and carries GI Authorised User certificate AU/5974/GI/139/260.

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