Jackfruit is probably the most versatile fruit, because it can be eaten both ripe AND unripe. Ripe jackfruit is tasty as a tropical fruit, and the unripe version can be cooked in a savoury dish.

Jackfruit is rich in proteins but without the saturated fat, which makes it a great meat replacement and a super food.

Is jackfruit the answer to plant-based protein? Yes, it’s one of the answers!

Let’s find out more about this super food

👉Its scientific name is Artocarpus heterophyllus, and it belongs to the fig family.

🌱How do they grow?
-On trees – in fact it’s the largest tree-borne fruit
-It takes several years for a jackfruit tree to mature (around 4-7 years), after which it bears fruit. Once it starts fruiting they will carry on for decades!
-One tree produces 150-200 fruits per year, one fruit can weigh up to 30kg or more. You can feed a lot of people with that.

🌍Where do they grow?
-The fruit was discovered in India thousands of years ago
-Naturally they grow in tropical climates. Abundantly found in India, southeast Asia in general, Brazil and parts of Africa
-They are very easy to grow, are low maintenance and can even grow in poor soil conditions

👉More about the super-food status of jackfruit
-It contains an impressive list of vitamins and minerals. Aside from protein it includes vitamin C, fibre, magnesium, potassium, small amounts of vitamin A and some B vitamins – and more!

😋Taste
-The ripe fruit part is reminiscent of other tropical fruit, think pineapple, mango and banana
-The unripe version that is cooked is a bit like tofu in the sense that it is neutral in taste, so it can absorb other flavours nicely, and has a meaty stringy texture

😋Eating a jackfruit
-Pretty much everything around the inner core is edible:
The bulbs/the fruit pods – you can just eat these fresh
The tendrils/rags/stringy part – need to be boiled first
The seeds – need to be boiled or roasted

Now, I need to figure out where I can eat jackfruit in the south of France!

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