A review article about jackfruit: what it is, where it grows, how the fruit is useful, taste, chemical composition and calorie content. Jackfruit is the fruit of an evergreen tropical tree with dense oval leaves up to 22 centimeters in length, a powerful trunk of which can grow up to 20 meters. The fruits are very large and ripen from 3 to 8 months, but not on the branches, but directly on the trunk. Their size: the length of the small jackfruit is 20 cm, and the largest is 110 cm, the diameter is up to 20 cm, and the weight is up to 34 kg. Up to 500 seeds can be in one fruit. There is no doubt that this is the largest edible fruit growing on a tree.
In the photo there is a tree with jackfruit fruits Botanical name - Artocarpus heterophyllus, like breadfruit, from the mulberry family, angiosperms department. The earliest jackfruit trees originated in Bangladesh and India. Now it is cultivated in Southeast Asia, East Africa, Brazil, the Philippines, and Thailand. Their popularity is comparable only to bananas and mangoes. The fruit of the plant is nutritious, available to everyone where it grows (cheap), does not require special preparation, because of this it can be called “bread for the poor”.
Attention, just do not confuse it with a similar, also one of the largest fruits in Asia - Durian.
Jackfruit taste
Outwardly, a large fruit is an oval jackfruit, with a pimpled skin of a light brown, yellowish or green color - it depends on the variety. Inside, it contains many lobules of yellow or orange color with a stone. From what sort of jackfruit you eat, the slices themselves will be either crunchy, or soft or even very soft, or viscous like rubber. The taste is also a lot of variety: the pulp is pleasantly berry, chocolate, ruminant-vanilla … In general, sweet! Interestingly, the ripe fruit smells disgusting, like rotten onions, but its pulp is fragrant like pineapple or banana.
The local cuisine has many recipes for making jackfruit. If the fruit is ripe, then it is consumed fresh, crumbled into a salad, dessert dishes. But immature ones are cooked like a vegetable - they are stewed, boiled, fried, etc., even used as a filling in pies. The seeds are also good for food - they are fried and eaten.
Those who like to eat very sweet overripe fruits need to know that such jackfruit will soon turn brown and go bad. To keep it fresh, put it in the refrigerator (freezer), where it can be stored for up to 2 months.
On a note:
the jackfruit plant itself, the fruit and each part of it individually contain sticky latex. And if you bought the whole fruit, then it is better to cut it with gloves or pre-grease your hands with vegetable oil.
Choose like this:
if you need an unripe jackfruit, it will make a dull sound when tapped. If you want ripe, then the sound will be hollow, sonorous. The peel is also different: in ripe ones, it is dense, elastic, but no longer firm.
Cut into food:
cut this large oval fruit lengthwise, remove the resin, the core and press on the peel, separating all parts of the jackfruit from each other. With the help of a knife, the sweet pulp is cut out and the seeds are selected.
Video how to cut jackfruit:
Jackfruit chemical composition and calorie content
The ripe fruit has a pleasant sweet taste and is very nutritious. It contains vitamins, micro- and macroelements, a lot of carbohydrates. Another name for jackfruit is Indian breadfruit.
In the photo peeled slices of jackfruit pulp Calorie content of jackfruit - 94 kcal per 100 g, the same amount of fresh fruit pulp contains:
- Protein - 1.46 g
- Fat - 0.29 g
- Carbohydrates - 2, 4 g
- Saturated fatty acids - 0.062 g
- Dietary fiber - 1.61 g
- Water - 73, 2 g
- Ash - 1 g
Vitamins:
- Beta-carotene vit. A - 15 mcg
- B9 - 14 mcg
- B6 - 0, 11 mcg
- B2 - 0.1 mcg
- B1 - 0.03 mcg
- Ascorbic acid vit. C - 6, 68 mg
- PP - 0.4 mg
Macro and microelements:
- Potassium - 300 mg
- Magnesium - 37.2 mg
- Iron - 0.58 mg
- Calcium - 33.9 mg
- Phosphorus - 36 mg
- Sodium - 3.1 mg
- Manganese - 0.2 mg
- Zinc - 0.4 mg
- Copper - 187 mcg
- Selenium - 0.59 mcg
Jackfruit is not just nutritious, it is low in calories and therefore a dietary product. The high content of ascorbic acid makes it useful for the heart and the walls of blood vessels, B vitamins will keep the skin and hair in good condition, potassium will support the nervous system. We read about the greater usefulness of fruits further …
Useful properties of jackfruit
Jackfruit contains a lot of useful elements, including vegetable fiber. It is not interchangeable for cleansing the intestines, removing toxins and normalizing the entire gastrointestinal tract. For example, locals warn tourists who eat a lot of fruit pulp that it can cause diarrhea.
Vitamins A and C, folic acid and magnesium are good helpers of hematopoiesis. They nourish our capillaries and blood vessels, support vision.
From the pulp of this Indian breadfruit, healers of oriental medicine prepare medicines for pharyngitis, stomach ulcers, and to normalize digestion. If you believe the connoisseurs of all the properties of this tropical fruit, then you can avoid intoxication when drinking alcohol: before a feast you need to eat jackfruit pulp.
Contraindications
Individual intolerance to the product can be the reason for refusal to taste this nutritious and very sweet tropical fruit.
With a large amount of jackfruit pulp eaten, diarrhea can occur, and subsequently an upset stomach that requires treatment. It is better to start trying the tropical fruit with small portions and gradually increase them.
Interesting Facts
The wood of the jackfruit trunk does not deteriorate by termites or mushrooms, therefore it is widely used as a building material for houses, furniture and even musical instruments.
In places where this plant is widespread, they believe that jackfruit brings good luck and wealth, so they plant it near their homes.
The fact is not confirmed, but in eastern countries it is believed that the pulp of jackfruit is capable of increasing sperm count, therefore it is very useful for men.
Video about the beneficial properties of jackfruit, how to eat it and how to choose:
[media =
