Wajos Mango Crema. Mango pulp in spirit vinegar, thick and fruity – the light crema for green salad, prawns, and anything that should taste like summer.
Wajos Mango Crema is a thick vinegar preparation made from 29 percent mango pulp on a base of spirit vinegar, with 4 percent acidity, 250 ml from Dohr on the Moselle. Not a balsamic, not a clear fruit vinegar, not syrup for lemonade, but a yellow crema for drizzling – mango first, the acidity only at the end.
Mango Crema by Wajos is a staple in our kitchen, right behind the Fig-Date Crema – and in summer, it catches up. Saturday lunchtime, the kids are hungry: a green salad, a few strips of pan-fried chicken, cucumber, bell pepper. Oil and salt on top, then the crema in drizzles – and the salad tastes of mango, even though the only mango in the house is in the bottle. That is exactly what the bottle is made for: the days when a dressing needs to be quick but still taste like something.
Mango up front, a light acidity at the back – and fruit instead of balsamic depth
The crema is sunny yellow and thick; it flows from the bottle in ribbons. First comes the mango: ripe, sweet, with the slightly resinous note that mango pulp has. Then the spirit vinegar, clear and neutral, which with its 4 percent acidity provides a kick at the end. That’s it – and that is the point. The dark, woody depth of balsamic-based cremas is missing in the Mango Crema. It is brighter, lighter, and tastes of fruit rather than barrels.
It is definitely sweet: 54 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters, from invert sugar syrup and mango pulp. A tablespoon over a salad is enough; half a bottle would be too much. For those who want a dry, acidity-focused dressing, this crema is not suitable – in that case, the Raspberry Balsam with 5.3 percent acidity is the clearer choice. The crema contains natural flavoring, a coloring food made from safflower and lemon for the yellow color, and sulfites as an antioxidant. That needs to be said before the bottle ends up on the shelf.
Over green salad, prawns, coconut rice, and vanilla ice cream
The classic is green salad with something savory on top: chicken, turkey strips, fried halloumi. Olive oil, salt, the crema in drizzles – you can leave out the vinegar and honey, as the crema brings both. With avocado, cucumber, and toasted cashews, it turns into a salad that passes for dinner.
For everything that comes out of the wok, it is the trick: a spoonful over prawns just before serving, a spoonful over fried vegetables with coconut rice, a few drops on spring rolls instead of store-bought sweet-and-sour sauce. Mango goes well with chili, cilantro, lime, and ginger – the crema fits in where balsamic would be out of place.
On a cheese board, it goes well with cream cheese, fresh goat cheese, and mild semi-hard cheese, rather than blue cheese. And for dessert: over vanilla ice cream, yogurt with muesli, or fruit salad with strawberries – it replaces the syrup and provides the acidity that keeps the whole thing fresh. Dried mango with a few drops of crema is a snack that no one in our house will give up anymore.
The crema is not suitable for marinating, deglazing roasts, or for anything that cooks for a long time: the sugar caramelizes, and the fruit disappears. Always add it at the very end, never into the pot.
Our tip: Two tablespoons of crema, three tablespoons of Lemon on Olive Oil, a pinch of salt, a little chili – the dressing for salads with chicken, prawns, or avocado.
From Dohr on the Moselle, where cremas are the core business
Wajos is located in Dohr near Cochem on the Moselle, and the name is an acronym. It stands for Walter Josef Oster, the founder of a winemaking family in Ediger-Eller that has been making wine for 15 generations. In the 1980s, Walter Oster opened a liqueur manufactory next to the winery. His son Peter Oster and Ulf Schwichtenberg built the Wajos brand from it starting in the 2000s – the first store in Trier in 2008, today stores throughout Germany and over 80 people in Dohr.
The cremas are the heart of the assortment: thick fruit vinegar preparations in a dozen varieties, most of them based on balsamic. The mango variety is the exception, as it is based on spirit vinegar – bright, neutral, so that the mango takes precedence over the vinegar. For a winemaking family, vinegar is a familiar craft; vinegar is wine that has gone one step further.
Wajos carries around 900 items, most of them made in Dohr itself, and every batch goes through their own laboratory before it is bottled. The family business calls its principle "working in a controlled small-scale manner" – better to have fewer varieties that are right than to jump on every trend.
The crema for summer and for people who find balsamic too heavy
Mango Crema is the bottle you buy when the Fig-Date Crema is too dark and too heavy for summer. It is the light variety on the Wajos shelf – fruity, light, uncomplicated – and often the first crema that children willingly put on their salad. Those who want more after that will find a second light variety in the Peach-Passion Fruit Crema and the dark, date-sweet one in the Fig-Date Crema. All varieties are on our Wajos page.
As a gift, it is the perfect thing to bring to a barbecue party: a bottle that stands on the buffet next to the salad and is empty by the end of the evening. Once opened, it lasts for months in the refrigerator; 250 ml is enough to last through the whole summer at one tablespoon per salad. It is not suitable for people who avoid sulfites – that is stated clearly enough on the label.
Mango on spirit vinegar, yellow and thick – the crema from the Moselle that turns a salad with chicken into a summer meal.
