Jackfruit

[sidrah]

I bought one the other day and the man shopping next to me was gving me some advice. Now that it seems like enough time has passed for it to be ripe enough, I am afraid to cut them open....over-researching is sometimes bad!

I think I will bring it to a friend's house. She is from India and has had it. I don't think I have a sharp enough knife since I recently moved (and unknowingly) donated some stuff to my brother's kitchen.


The store guy laughed and said the one I had was small and in his country....sounded like Bangadesh accent, not Indian...that he had ones double that size in his yard. I think the one I got was 14 + pounds, was large to me. The one he was buying was about 25 lbs. So he told me what to look for and what to do, but he said to just peel it open, like durian, it should have a seam.

I searched on here, but just got some references to it appeared so far, so gonna go through posts again.


You guys ever eaten it?

[klomasius]

Yup, have eaten it, tastes like bubblegum and is just as chewy sometimes!

I love them, and they can grow up to a metre long (2 and a bit feet?).

They can be hard to get thru with only one person, no matter how small, and they are calorie dense (just letting you know, I don't care at all about this).

I usually gauge if they are ripe enough by pushing it, if it has some give then it should be ripe. I usually err on the side of caution and give it a few more days of ripening if I'm not sure.

If you can't get thru it all, you can freeze it, and use it in smoothies and ice creams, just remove the pits and store the flesh in containers.

[sidrah]

Since it is hard to begin with, when you push it are you jsut looking for it to be mushier or the skin will be softer? I bought it on Wednesday and hte guy said wait a few days. I think I am waiitng and bringing it in to work and have her help me.


For the exorbitant price of it, I will definitely be freezing it !!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

Thanks

[Evie]

Wow, I have never been able to find a whole Jackfruit. The Asian Market I go to always cuts it up. By the time it is bought, it is rotting. Tell us what you think of it....

[sidrah]

I have friends I work with from India and they all laughed and said the only way to make it is to buy it sliced up already and boil it with spices to get the taste to go away. "Great," I said, "but I want to eat it raw."

"Huh, nononono. We don't eat it that way."


She said they buy a slice of it for 4 people and that lasts them a while. Here I am with about 6 times that amount. Next time I would buy it cut up and use it that day.

So, it is still in my fridge because honestly I was lazy and don't have a sharp knife to cut it. When I moved here I thought it was for a shorter time so I didn't bting my good knives, jsut the ones from IKEA. I was stalling cause I heard you needed a good knife and 2 people to cut it. It is still sitting thre. IF I get the motovation to cut it, I'll try to juice it.

[klomasius]

Sidrah, I think your indian friend might be talking about UNRIPE jackfruit.

If I remember correctly, unripe jackfruit (this is when it's hard and not sweet) is used in savoury cooked dishes, I believe in a similar way to how breadfruit is used.

You most definitely can eat jackfruit plain and raw when it has ripened. I think this is the healthiest way to eat it.

When checking it's ripe, push the skin. The skin itself will remain hard, but the flesh underneath will have some give.

um..is this the same Jackfruit you started the thread with? That will be WAAAAY ripe! lol.

The flesh is yellow and aromatic when ripe, and comes away from centralised areas in large tear shaped segments. In each segment is a stone, remove the stone and the flesh is ready to be eaten. Freeze the remainder (remove the stone first), and if you are eating this along you WILL have remainder, unless you can get thru it all in a couple of days!

Edit: I just realised that jackfruit used for the two different purposes may have been picked at different times.

Some fruit that is used in savoury dishes is picked way before it's ripe, and so never ripens to a sweet, soft flesh. I've always had jackfruit fresh off the tree or picked to be ripe within a couple of days, so not familiar with the other way. What this might mean for you is that you may have a jackfruit that will never ripen to sweetness. Just lettin you know!

[Nutritionist]

Jackfruit - Yummy! Jackfruit is my favorite fruit after mango.The English one, jackfruit, is thought to derive from the Malayalam chakka or cakkai via the Portuguese jaca. This name is used by the physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India. Jackfruit tree is native to parts of South and Southeast Asia.Since fresh fruit is very rare to get in CANADA/USA .