Y at Priorhouse has started a new challenge (thankfully a monthly challenge!) – Food. And this month the topic is veggies.
For this challenge, I chose something that doubles as a fruit and a vegetable. Technically it is a fruit but most people in India cook and eat it as a vegetable. Handling, cutting and dicing the raw fruit is a sticky, messy, dicey business and one must remember to lather the hands (and knife) with oil otherwise you are likely to be stuck forever and ever π
Okay, any idea what I am talking about? Difficult if you are not from this part of the world. This fruit is native to South and Southeast Asia and is believed to have originated in the Western Ghats of India.
Okay without any further ado – have a look:
Can you make out anything? Okay another closer shot for you.
Yep that’s the jack fruit
See the white gooey stuff near the neck? That is the stuff to watch out for, when handling the raw fruit.
When ripe, it is extremely sweet and fleshy. It has a distinct all pervading odor which can be rather overpowering. Keeping the ripe fruit in the refrigerator can be risky as everything is likely to reek of jack fruit. The inside of the jack fruit is composes of pods or bulbs each of which holds a seed. The seeds are cooked and eaten as well, though they are covered with a thick inedible cover which has to be removed.
While the vegetable avatar is quite popular all over the country and is available as chips, the fruit version (at least as far as I know) is consumed only by the Bengali community in India – anyone care to correct me? There are two varieties of the fruit pods. One is small, fibrous, soft, mushy and terribly sweet. If one is not careful while eating this, it can slip down the throat and cause choking – been there done that! I prefer the other variety which is crisp and chewy and is also less sweet.
By the way, the jack fruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh.
Hope you liked my offering for this month’s food – happy eating π
Stories and more 
Being an honorary Keralite, I should alert & inform you that the people of Kerala love the fruit as well β it is consumed raw, added to milkshakes, made desert of, and countless curries of course π
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Super! I was kinda hoping somebody would protest π π Thanks Prachtg, good to see you sometimes π Don’t mind my curiosity but why ‘honorary’ Keralite?
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Hi Dahlia, this is arshi_fan2012.
I am also from Kerala, so now you understand that I came here to ‘protest’. π just kidding!
Jackfruit (‘chakka’ in Malayalam) is the favourite fruit of many Keralites. Almost all houses had a jackfruit tree in the old days when they had their own backyard. Even today its grown in many houses if they have enough land space around the house. Its during the March-May months we have the jackfruit season I think. specially during the holidays. I have seen people use the leaves to feed goats. Its their (goats’ ) favourite I think. Earlier days people used to make the leaves into a cone shape and used it instead of spoon to have the porridge.
We consume jackfruit in different forms. Raw, ripe, fried etc. I personally love the ripe fruit and also fried chips. But at home its made into many sweet varieties mainly using jaggery. Raw ones are used to make curry (that too in many varieties). We even use the seeds to (dried) make curry. Ripe fruit is consumed as it as. My aunt makes jams using the ripe ones and also some deserts. Okay I have blabbered enough of ‘chakka puranam’ (jackfruit tales).. so bye for now! π
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Excellent Arshi_fan! And amazing how many Keralite friends I seem to have π And yes Kerala does have a greater and diverse use for the jack fruit. Thanks for chipping in – really appreciate it π Look forward to more such ‘protests’ π
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Even ppl from Andhra pradesh and Telangana love this fruit… its known as ‘pansakaya’…. In UP i doubt ppl know such fruit exits or not… π π but they do make curry which i absolutely dislike it… -_-
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Well it certainly grows in UP, pic is taken in erstwhile UP π I dont know about the curry but I do like the dry version of the vegetable. But yes, they dont take the fruit version – their loss eh π Thanks for chipping in coolyoyoy π
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Am I late to join in the protest?? π
Almost to the end of it’s season(when all of them have had their full, in all forms of it), I have often heard some of my cousins joking that they can easily say what’s for lunch or dinner at home without any doubt…
Will reveal something that’s of interest to you…it’s at times added to avial too π
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Actually was waiting for your protest but thankfully no dearth of protesters for once (touch wood!) π Avial is it? Darn it, did you have to remind me π¦
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I ate something similar in Fiji called bread fruit. I wasn’t brave enough to cook with it. But I do know it offers a lot of nutrients. I have a feeling it’s a matter of taste. π
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Bread fruit – Interesting! The first time is always difficult unless one is very adventurous π Thanks!
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Im going to find one, eat one, digest one and then i will come and protest here!
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Haha…good one Jππ π
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