Deconstructing Jackfruit

• The following is a pictorial on how I take a Jackfruit apart. After a lot of experimentation, I find this the most satisfying, and as always, practice makes perfect..
• Coat your knife with Coconut oil so you don't struggle with the sticky juice.
• I begin by cutting out the stem first with a circular cut, about 1" deep.
• Then I score the skin in a spiral fashion into one strip about 2-3" wide.
• And then I cut in between the flower pods, and under them, to get little sections, that I can then easily take apart.

• And I continue to take these sections apart. 

And I sort the flowers and the seeds separately.

And eventually, out of a 22 lb jackfruit, I harvested about 6.5 lbs of flowers, and 2 lbs of seeds. I cook the seeds, and then I peel them and refrigerate them to make dal with.

And the results are nothing to sneeze at 😅

Better Breakfasts and Jackfruit Economics

Jackfruit can be intimidating, and not only because of its weight. Peeling a jackfruit is a significant chore, but the results are worthwhile, and I have documented them numerous times on this blog.

Half-way

Steelcut oats, whith shredded apple, blueberries, cacao nibs, cinnamon and some raisings, goji berries, and topped with some Jackfruit.

Ready to eat

Today, I want to pay attention to the economics of the Jackfruit.

Jackfruit is apparently the national fruit of Bangladesh, so during the seaason, you will find them everywhere in my heavily Bangladeshi neighborhood.

• This year jackfruit could be found in my area between $0.99/lb (rarely), but I got one 20lb jackfruit with a blemish for that price, and it worked out well. Only one flowerpod was affected by some rot, but overall the fruit was perfectly healthy and ripe to eat.
• Some of the stores will peal them and sell you the flower pods, ready to eat, ant that tended to go for $5/lb.
• You will find the nuts, the kernels at $9/lb or there abouts

I buy the whole fruit and I make a curry with the kernels, which is out of this world. I have publishedt that on this blog.

Being single, I make this a project to peel the fruit, which takes me several hours, but then I freeze the flower pods in quart bags, and I use it on my typical oatmeal breakfast. 

With the kernels I make a big pot of curry, and some of it I eat that week and the rest is frozen in quart bags for future use. This way, I can whip up rice with curry and have some kind of veggie on the side and I have an excellent meal in short order.

My 20lb Jackfruit yielded 7/8 quart bags of flowerpods, and 2-3 lbs of seeds. Obviously, if you have the traffic, it could be worthwhile to sell some ready to eat jackfruit.

Before I knew what to do with them, I'd give the seeds to my Bangladeshi neighbors. But now that I know what to do with them, they are actually a true delicacy in the right recipe. 

Jackfruit again, seeds and all

The other day we got ourselves another Jackfruit at Premium Halal Meat & Fish, where we buy only fruits and vegetables despite the name...

Jackfruit, cut open.

Thanks to some recent inspiration about sharpening knives on YouTube channel Burrfection, my kitchen knives are now sharper than they have been in 20 years, and that's exactly what I needed to surgically dismantle this jackfruit, and cleanly take out the pods and get rid of the rest, except... save the seeds!

I have grown to absolutely love the taste of jackfruit, even if it is a bit of work to take it apart in an orderly fashion - it is worth the effort in spades. The nutritional value of the fruit is exceptional, see here.

There are some amazing things being done with jackfruit, such as jackfruit carnitas, and jackfruit barbcue, see here:

• Jackfruit sandwiches with avocado slaw
• Jackfruit pulled "Pork"

and there is more where that came from. Some companies are already producing packaged BBQ jackfruit and jackfruit carnitas, which is great for saldads, sandwiches and wraps.

Do not forget the seeds. I don't like slicing the jackfruit in half as is often done, exactly because the seeds will be halved as well. So, we like to buy a whole jackfruit and harvest the seeds whole. Once you understand the jackfruit, you can start with an incision at the ends, and surgically dissect it, harvesting all the pods whole and taking out the seeds whole as well. You need to take the hard white skin off the seeds, which again requires a sharp paring knife.

Stew with Jackfruit seeds

Last night I made a simple stew, first roasting some onions, garlic, and diced peppers (including some hot peppers) in a stainless steel pot, then I added 2 cups of vegetable bouillion, and cooked the jackfruit seeds in that for 15 minutes, then I added a purple sweet potato, peeled and sliced in half inch slices, and I let it go for another 15 minutes, after adding in some turmeric. Separately, I steamed some Brussels sprouts, and put some nutmeg on that, et voilà: a simple healthy meal. Finger-licking good actually. Continuing the tradition: everything tastes better if you stop cooking with oil, and your heart will thank you!

Starling Avenue Stew with Swiss Chard and Jackfruit Seeds

Jackfruit has been plentiful on Starling Avenue this summer, and my girlfriend brought some home several times, as it was selling for 99 cents per pound, at Premium Halal Meat & Fish and other stores. The seeds are edible, and first we roasted some... that was not bad. But then I had a hunch, which led to this new dish, a Starling Avenue original. You could make it with seeds of the Jackfruit, or, if those are not available to you, you could make it with chestnuts. Key foods on Unionport sells organic chestnuts in a bag, or Chang-Li Supermarket on Benedict Avenue also sells chestnuts in bags, under the brand name of Homei.

This recipe meets all the criteria for Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's no-oil vegan lifestyle.

Jackfruit Arils & Seeds (Wikipedia)

The jackfruit itself has become a favorite desert, and that is saying a lot, for I don't normally eat desert. In the process of taking the pods out of the fruit, you must take the seeds out, and when they dry the outershell which is whitish, dries up very quickly, and you can peel it off. The seeds themselves can very well be roasted, especially when they are fresh, but if you dry them you could try this stew. Notably some stores also offered the Jackfruit seeds for sale at $4.99/lb. Here goes for the recipe this is for 2 people. The overall flavor of this dish is "nutty," and the tastes harmonize well, but you can make variations.

Ingredients & Variations

• Farro for a grain - you cook it like rice, but it has a very rich, nutty flavor. Around here you can find it at Good 'n Natural on White Plains Road, its from Bob's Red Mill. Alternatively you could use a brown Basmati rice.
• Swiss chard. Chang-Li Supermarket regularly carries this vegetable. You could uses spinach instead, but again the Swiss Chard has that rich, nutty flavor, that sets it apart.
• A chopped onion.

Preparation:

• In a pan, cook the chopped onion in two cups of water for about 10-15 minutes, with the peeled jackfruit seeds. Turn down to a slow simmer.
• Meanwhile you washed the chard and chopped up the stems into inch-long pieces.
• First add the stems of the chard to the simmering pan, and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Chop the leaves of the chard into about inch-wide strips, and add them to the pan - let it simmer until the leaves are wilted and soft to eat.

Serve the stew over the farro. The whole thing has a rich, earthy, nutty flavor, and it should not need anything else. Enjoy.