Jackfruit is native to Southern and Southeast Asia. It is also found in East Africa and Brazil. It is the largest fruit grown in a tree in the world, growing as long as three feet and weighing as much as 80 to 90 pounds. Ripe jackfruit can smell like rotting onions and when cut open, large amounts of "sticky gum flow out and coat the knife and the hands of the person preparing the fruit unless both are first rubbed with vegetable oil.
Because of this, jackfuit is often sold ready to eat, canned, or in shrink-wrapped plastic trays." The yellow segments of fruit
have a seed
that is edible when boiled.
It is one of the 1001 Foods You Must Taste Before You Die. 1001 says that it tastes like a "cross between a pineapple and a banana." Wikipedia says it tastes like a tart banana. I bought some from an Asian store. I bought a section shrink-wrapped
with the the spiky green outside
and I bought some segments shrink-wrapped and ready to eat.
Because of the 1001 description of sticky gum I never did get around to eating the intact version. I focused on the tray of segmented fruit that was ready to eat. I did not find the smell to be repelling, certainly nothing like durian. As I ate the fruit, I felt like it tasted more like papaya and mango. It was very sweet. I took some to a friend's house where a group was gathered to watch a BYU basketball game. I was impressed by the number of people who tried it and liked it.
I ate a lot of jackfruit in the Philippines. There are trees everywhere on the islands. The most amazing thing is how big they get. The fruit can grow to be enormous.
ReplyDeleteBrent, I'd be curious to know if you have a recollection of them having a bad smell and/or sticky gum that made them a mess to eat.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on your definition of "bad". Even when fresh and ripe they would have a bit of an overripe smell that wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world but the taste was still very sweet. I never associated it with rotting onions. And yes, they were very sticky. Just based on your photos, it appears that the one you had was a bit dried out. That's probably a requirement for retail packaging. When you cut one open fresh they can be very messy but we never thought to use vegetable oil. We just cleaned up after the fact. When we lived in Torrance I bought some canned jackfruit at a Filipino grocery store. It was not bad.
ReplyDeleteI watched a video on how to cut one of these open once. And now, here you are, eating one. I've got to check in with your blog a little more often.
ReplyDeleteI saw several large, uncut, jackfruit fruits at the Asian store the other day and I was tempted for about 5 seconds. There is no way I could approach putting even a dent in it, but it would be fun to dig into one just to see what it is really like.
ReplyDeleteI've been searching for fresh jackfruit! My grocers sell it either in the can (in syrup or in water) or in big chunks in the freezer section. This post inspired me to open the can of sweet ripe jackfruit in syrup in my cupboard...definitely not as good as the young jackfruit in water. There's a vegan restaurant in Silverlake ("Pure Luck") that has amazing jackfruit carnitas burritos! Or you can make the carnitas yourself:
ReplyDeletehttp://theurbanhousewife.blogspot.com/2008/02/jackfruit-carnitas-tacos.html
This is how I make them too, but I'm too lazy to wait for the crock pot so I just saute them for ten minutes...
I also saw one growing on a tree in a green house at the Huntington library last weekend. What an interesting fruit!
Andrew, if you come out this weekend we'll buy the jackfruit and dig into it. I also have a squirrel in the freezer which we can cook. How about it?
ReplyDeleteI am from Jamaica and jackfruit is everywhere even in our back garden. I can tell you when ripe it smells more like over ripe bananas. It is extremely sweet so don't allow it to get too ripe for the best taste.
ReplyDeleteWhat about how it feels, both in your fingers and on your tongue? Is it supposed to be a little slimy? Is it still ok to eat like that? Thanks
ReplyDeleteI picked up a large precut chunk at my asian market for $2.27 and got 10 nice size pieces out of it (with 10 beautiful large seeds of course).bright yellow flesh,sweet taste,not slimey & not sticky,it was perfect!To me it taste like juicy fruit gum!
ReplyDeleteI picked up a large precut chunk at my asian market for $2.27 and got 10 nice size pieces out of it (with 10 beautiful large seeds of course).bright yellow flesh,sweet taste,not slimey & not sticky,it was perfect!To me it taste like juicy fruit gum!
ReplyDelete