Late-season Florida cultivar that stays green even when fully ripe; one of the largest commercial mangoes in the world, beloved in Asian markets as a green-eating mango.
Named after Mrs. J.N. Keitt, the Homestead, Florida orchardist who planted the original seedling in 1939. The seedling was almost certainly a Mulgoba cross. The pronunciation 'KIT' is commercially canonical but 'KEET' is also common in Asian markets where the cultivar is widely grown.
The Keitt — pronounced KIT (rhymes with mitt) in North American markets, KEET in many Asian ones — is one of the most commercially important late-season mangoes in the world, and an instructive cultivar in its own right because, like the Indian Langra and the Thai Khiao Sawoei, it stays predominantly green even when fully ripe. The cultivar's status as a green-ripe mango has been the basis for its commercial geography: in Mexican and US markets it's sold and eaten ripe and yellow-fleshed, while in many Asian markets — particularly Hong Kong and Singapore — it's prized in its mature-green state, served with chilli-salt-lime or in dim sum mango pudding.
The Keitt was selected in 1939 by Mrs. J.N. Keitt at her Homestead, Florida orchard, almost certainly a Mulgoba seedling (and therefore a direct genetic descendant of the South Indian Malgova lineage that also produced Haden, Tommy Atkins, and Kent). Florida's USDA Subtropical Horticulture Research Station released it commercially in the 1940s, but Keitt's true commercial flourishing came when Mexican and Brazilian growers planted it in the 1970s as a late-season counterpart to Tommy Atkins. Where Tommy Atkins ripens in May-July, Keitt ripens in August-October, extending the North American supermarket mango shelf by months.
A ripe Keitt is large — 500–1500 g typical, with prize specimens exceeding 2 kg, making it one of the largest commercial mangoes in the world — broadly oval-elongated, with a thick, smooth, green-yellow skin that retains its predominant green colour even at full ripeness (only the apex sometimes blushes yellow). The flesh is deep yellow-orange, firm, juicy, with minimal fibre and a relatively small flat stone. Brix sits 15–19°, with a clean sweet-tart profile and a mild aroma — better-flavoured than Tommy Atkins, less complex than Kent, and the late-season Florida mango of choice for connoisseurs who want a hardier alternative to Kent.
The cultivar dominates late-season Mexican mango exports to the US (where it ships from August through October, filling the supermarket gap between the Mexican Ataulfo peak and the next year's crop), and is grown commercially in Brazil's São Francisco valley, Peru's Piura region, Israel's Jordan Valley, and Australia's Northern Territory. Hong Kong's iconic mango pudding — the agar-set dim sum dessert served at Cantonese banquets — is most often made with Keitt; the cultivar's mild sweetness, large size, and reliable Southeast-Asian supply chain make it the canonical Asian-market mango for processed dessert work. In Mexico, Keitt is also one of the most popular green-eating mangoes, sliced into batons and dipped in chamoy + Tajín + lime as a street snack.