Most Americans cannot say the phrase ‘balls’ without lapsing into a juvenile titters (or using the phrase ‘titters’ but that’s another story).

Ball – singular form is acceptable when describing sports but the plural form even when involved in sports usually ends with someone with, “That’s what she said.”

So, they are unwilling to try a lot of Asian foods which gets ends in the descriptive phrase, “balls.” Of course, it simply means round object in a direct translation and what else is a round sphere but a ball. So, while fish & shrimp balls are not the seafood equivalent of a Rocky Mountain oyster, most Americans are leery.

From “Philippine Brand” who most people might know from their yummy dried mango stripes … even Costco sells it … the only thing bad about them is you cannot stop after 3 or 4 strips but maybe after 25 …

And now, we have mango balls from “Philippine Brand.”

I’ll wait for the tittering to quiet down before continuing.

The one advantage is that they are individually wrapped so you can grab a handful and take them where-ever or be the odd person on the block who gives these out on Halloween.

There is one major difference between these and the strips – you would never guess that they are the same product or company. They taste vaguely like mangos but if I never told you, you might not be able to really guess. The mango balls are much darker in color and coated with sugar crystals – they are almost tart but not quite. Unlike the strips from the main meat of the mango, these are presumably whatever is left over that they then mash into a ball shape. Bt thy are priced cheaply so if you want a slightly more tart mango in handy individually wrapped balls, here ya go … and you could argue that the mango strips in the lovely mango flavor probably have been processed to retain its lovely mango coloring while these are a more natural coloring of mango pieces rolled into a ball shape.

So, a decent line extension but nothing outstanding – though again, if they tasted as good as the mango strips, I could probably eat this bag in 2 minutes …

You’ll also notice it says “Export Quality” meaning the domestic quality is worse? Or is it like beef rating where U.S. Choice is the lowest USDA beef rating?