Peel and cut up the mangoes. Don’t throw out the tough core, it surrounded by delicious mango pulp that you can still use.

Toss the mango cubes and cores into a large non-reactive heavy bottomed pot (I used my enamel dutch oven but stainless steel will work too).

Add 4 cups of water. Cover. Cook on medium high for about 45 to 60 minutes until the mango cubes are completely soft and begin to fall apart. Check on it every 20 minutes or so just to make sure there is enough water in the pot. If the water starts to run low, add a little more.

Once the mangoes are soft and sort of mushy, turn off heat and let cool.

While the mangoes are cooling, heat a cast iron or stainless steel pan over medium heat. Add in the cumin seeds and dry roast them until they start to darken and give off a fragrance about 30 to 60 seconds. I like to stir the seeds to avoid burning them.

Toss the roasted seeds into a mortar and pestle and roughly grind them. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can simply toss them onto a cutting board and roll over the seeds a few times with your rolling pin. It works surprisingly well!

Toss the boiled mango mash into a blender. Add in a cup of water and the sugar, salt, lemon juice, and cumin seeds. Blend into a puree. Measure your puree, it doesn’t matter how much it is. You should just know the measurement because that will affect the amount of ice water you add later.

Transfer the puree to a large jug and add a mixture of ice and cold water till the total amount equals about 8 cups.