“Breadfruit. It is breadfruit !!”, was my reaction.
Around a month back, an old childhood friend messaged me stating that there was a plant growing in her backyard and she wanted me to see it. Time flew by and I forgot about it. Suddenly one afternoon last week she again messaged me stating about it so I went to meet her.
The moment I saw it I couldn’t resist smiling. It was Breadfruit.
Breadfruit looks like the younger cuter sibling of the jackfruit. It grows on trees that have beautiful leaves. One tree gives around 20-50 fruits.
It has a somewhat cylindrical or globular structure. It has a green or yellowish-green peel which is almost smooth.
When you slit it up, it looks more off like a raw jackfruit. In terms of taste, it has its distinct flavour. Nothing too strong, more on the blander side, and the taste varies depending on the stage of development.
This fruit has a wonderful food history and an interesting food tale attached to it. Europeans first discovered it in 1769. King George III sent Lieutenant Bligh on a breadfruit-gathering expedition.
After picking up the breadfruit trees and setting ashore, the mutiny took place. Yet Bligh survived and was made into a hero and promoted to Captain. He again went on the breadfruit voyage in 1791 and completed it. But back then it was not accepted because of its somewhat bland taste.
Currently, it is widely used in various cuisines and grows in a lot of places like South East Asia, Mexico, Parts of Africa, etc.
Artocarpus altilis
Nirphanas (Marathi), Bakri Chajhar (Hindi), Nimbalu (Solomon Islands), Rimas (Philippines) Ulu (Hawaii)
It is a good source of high-quality protein. Complex carbohydrates, fibre, and nutrients like iron, potassium, thiamine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, etc.
Breadfruit can be consumed at various stages of development but mainly the firm mature fruit is used.
It is occasionally available in the market and easily available during certain specific periods i.e. June to July sometimes even till September.
Though you can store it in the fridge and it can stay there for days which could cause nutritional damage and hence should be left out.
The slightly ripe ones are my personal favourite for making fritters.
Apart from fritters, one can use breadfruit to make regular gravies, fry it like pakodas, or even make rice-based dishes. It can be sautéed, steamed, boiled, shallow or deep-fried, or baked.
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