Jackfruit

Introduction
The jackfruit is a species of tree of the mulberry family native to parts of South and South Asia. It is well suited to tropical lowlands. Its fruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world, seldom less than about 25 cm (10 in) in diameter. Even a relatively thin tree, around 10 cm (4 in) diameter, can bear large fruit. The fruits can reach 36 kg (80 lbs) in weight and up to 90 cm (36 in) long and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter. The jackfruit is something of an acquired taste, but it is very popular in many parts of the world. The sweet yellow sheaths around the seeds are about 3–5 mm thick and have a taste similar to that of pineapple, but milder and less juicy.

Nurturing & Ecosystem
The jackfruit is native to India, Banglaesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is also possibly native to the Malay Peninsula, though it is more likely that it was introduced there by humans. It is commercially grown and sold in South, Southeast Asia and northern Australia. It is also grown in parts of Hawaii, Brazil, Suriname, Madagascar, and in islands of the West Indies such as Jamaica and Trinidad. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Indonesia. All jackfruit plants are frost sensitive. The jackfruit bears fruit three years after planting.
The jackfruit has played a significant role in the Indian agriculture (and culture) from time immemorial. Archeological findings in India have revealed that jackfruit was cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago. Findings also indicate that Indian Emperor Ashoka (274–237 BC) encouraged arbori-horticulture of various fruits including jackfruit. Varahamihira, the Indian astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer wrote a chapter on the treatment of trees in his Brhat Samhita. His treatise includes a specific reference on grafting to be performed on trees such as jackfruit.
In Sri Lanka, particularly for rural poor families, a jackfruit tree is a fortune. The tree bears fruit for over six months, yielding many fruits over the course of the season. The fruit is a best substitute for rice, due to which the tree is commonly called "rice tree" by rural people.
Recently, the jackfruit has been considered as an invasive species in Brazil, specially in the Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The Tijuca forest being mostly an artificial secondary forest, whose planting began during the mid-XIXth. Century, jackfruit trees have historically made part of its flora since the park's founding. Recently, however, it was considered that the species had begun to expanded excessively due to the fact that its fruits, once they had naturally fallen to the ground and opened, where eagerly eaten by small mammals such as the common marmoset and the coati. As both animals also prey opportunistically on bird's eggs and nestlings, the supply of jackfruit as a ready source of food has allowed them to expand their populations at the expense of avian life. Also, as the seeds themselves are also dispersed by the same animals, this allows the jackfruit to compete for space with native tree-species; therefore the fact that, between 2002 and 2007, 55,662 jackfruit saplings have been destroyed in the Tijuca Forest area alone in a deliberate culling effort by the park's management; at the same time, 1,921 young trees were felled and 881 mature ones were killed through girdling.
Commercial availability
Outside of its countries of origin, fresh jackfruit can be found at Asian food markets. It is also extensively cultivated in the Brazilian coastal region, being commercialized in local markets. It may also be available canned in sugar syrup or frozen. Sweet jackfruit chips are produced by various manufacturers.

Parts of Fruit
Skin

Jackfruits have prickly skins which in the Philippines are a source of imagination and creativity for woodcarvers. They use the figure of the jackfruit to make bowls and they add the prickly texture of the jackfruit's skin to make it more realistic.

Flesh

Jackfruit flesh is one of the most edible parts of the jackfruit for it carries the most fragrant smell and taste in the fruit. It contains a high level of fiber which can help cure illnesses like constipation.
Different varieties of jackfruit are acknowledged according to the characteristics of the fruits' flesh; in Brazil, three such varieties are generally recognized: jaca-dura ("hard" variety: bigger fruits, weighing between 15 and 40 kilograms each, harder flesh), jaca-mole ("soft" variety: smaller fruits, softer and sweeter flesh), and jaca-manteiga ("butter" variety: sweet fruits, flesh with consistency roughly between "hard" and "soft").

Seeds

Jackfruit seeds carry the fibrous role above all the other parts of the fruit. Natives prefer to roast them or boil to make it edible for them. Current researches say that turning the seeds into flour adds fiber a little bit compared to eating it by roasting or boiling.

Young fruit
Unripe (young) jackfruit can also be eaten whole. Young jackfruit has a mild flavour and distinctive texture. The cuisines of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Vietnam use cooked young jackfruit. In many cultures, jackfruit is boiled and used in curries as a food staple.

Health Benifits
The pulp of the young fruit is cooked as a vegetable, pickled or canned. Pulp of ripe fruit is eaten fresh or made into various local delicacies including chutney, jam, jelly, and paste, or preserved as candies by drying or mixing with sugar, honey or syrup. The pulp is also used to flavour ice cream and beverages, made into jackfruit honey, reduced to concentrate or powder, and used for preparing drinks. The seeds can be eaten boiled, roasted or dried and salted as table nuts, or they can be ground to make flour and blended with wheat flour for baking. Young leaves can be used as fodder for cattle and other live stock.
The jackfruit root is a remedy for skin diseases and asthma. An extract of the root is taken to cure fever and diarrhoea. Jackfruit provides a good supply of proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins. Jackfruit contains 38 per cent carbohydrates, 6.6 per cent proteins and 0.4 g fat, vitamins like vitamin A, C and B vitamins, and minerals like calcium, zinc and phosphorous. Its health benefits are wide-ranging from anti-cancer and antihypertensive to anti-ageing and anti-ulcer.
Nutrition chart (Amount in 100 grams of edible portion)
ENERGY (kilocalories) 94

WATER (grams) 73.23

FAT (grams) 0.3

PROTEIN (grams) 1.47

CARBOHYDRATES (grams) 24.01

FIBER (grams) 1.6

VITAMINS : Fat SolubleVitamin A (mcg-RAE) 15

Water SolubleVitamin C (mg) 6.7

Riboflavin (mg) 0.11

Pyridoxine(B6) (mg) 0.108

MINERALS(mg)

Calcium 34

Iron 0.6

Magnesium 37

Phosphorus 36

Potassium 303

Sodium 3

Zinc 0.42

Copper 0.187

Manganese 0.197

Dishes

Boiled Jackfruit seeds are a very tasty and nutritious snack. Boiled Jackfruit seeds can be used as an alternative to potatoes. Jackfruit seeds, which appeal to all tastes, may be boiled or roasted and eaten, or boiled and preserved in syrup like chestnuts. They can be canned in brine, in curry, and, like baked beans, in tomato sauce. They can also be included in curried dishes. Roasted, dried seeds are ground to make flour which is blended with wheat flour for baking.
Kathal Subji: Spicy vegetable with raw jackfruit from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Assam, India.
Gidde: Famous in South karnataka such as Udupi and Mangalore.
In Udupi and Mangalore, a dish is prepared by soaking the unriped fruit in salt garins for months.
Kathal Aachar: Pickle made of jackfruit from Uttar Pradesh & Assam.
Pilakkai Kandbu and Dosa: Sweet dishes made with ripe jackfruit from Mangalore, India.
Gujjeda Kajipu: Dry spicy curry of raw jackfruit from Mangalore, India.
Ghariyo: Jackfruit sweet dish from Mangalore, India.
Saath: Jackfruit Pappad as a snack from Goa and Mangalore, India.
Jackfruit Halwa: made from ripen jackfruit a sweet dish, part of Udupi cuisine.
Chakka Pradaman: Jackfruit pudding from Kerala, India.
Enchorer Torkari: Curry made from unripe jackfruit from West Bengal, India.
Chakka Varattiyathu: Ripe jackfruit jam (with jaggery and ghee) from Kerala, India.
Chakka Varauthathu: Jackfruit Chips from Kerala, India.
Idiyan chakka: Whole tender jackfruit cooked with spices and pounded, from Kerala, India.
Chakka aviyal, Chakka erisseri: Preparations with sliced unripe jackfruit and other vegetable, from Kerala, India.
Panasa Koora/Panasa Pottu Koora: Traditional Jackfruit Curry made from unripe jackfruit from coastal Andhra, India.
Gudeg: traditional dish from Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia.
Lodeh: traditional Indonesian vegetable dish with coconut milk.
Gule Nangka: traditional Indonesia spicy curry Indonesia.
Raithey: sour curry with boiled young jackfruit, raw mango & raw papaya part of Navayath cuisine from Bhatkal, Karnataka, India.
Fansa Nevaryo: Navayath sweet dish of rice ground with ripen jackfruit stuffed with coconut and jaggery and steamed after wrapping in banyan leaves from Bhatkal, Karnataka, India.
Humba Nangka:curry made from unripe jackfruit and coconut milk Bohol, Philippines.
Gatti or Gidde in Tulu where ripe jackfruit is ground with rava to form thick paste which is put on a teak wood leaf and then cooked in steam. The gidde is ready.
An optional ingredient in Sayur asam (Indonesian clear soup; the name means tamarind vegetables)
Also ingredient in Indonesian traditional Minangkabau cuisine.
Jackfruit salad: Vietnamese dish with boiled young jackfruit.
Kiri Kos: A creamy jackfruit curry cooked with coconut milk from Sri Lanka.
Polos Ambul: Tender jackfuits cooked with spices from Sri Lanka.
Kalupol Maluwa: Jackfruit nuts cooked with spices and mixed with scraped coconut from Sri Lanka.
Fanas Poli: Sun dried Jackfruit pulp with sugar from Konkan.
G?i mít: jackfruit salad dish in Vietnam.
Nhút mít: salted jackfruit popular in Central Vietnam.

Jackfruit chips
Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines. It can be eaten unripe (young) or ripe, and cooked or uncooked. The seeds can also be eaten cooked or baked like beans; they taste similar to chestnuts. The leaves are sometimes used as a wrapping for steamed Idlis.

Other preparations
Jackfruit chips (for example, the Nafiri brand from Surabaya, Indonesia).
Asian ice desserts (including Indonesian and Filipino versions).
Turon, a Filipino dessert made of banana and jackfruit wrapped in an eggroll wrapper.
Sometimes an added ingredient for cassava cake.
An optional ingredient in kolak, an Indonesian mung bean and coconut based dessert.
It is thought that jackfruit is the basis for the flavour of Juicy Fruit chewing gum.
Jackfruit candy.
Vitamin Water sells a jackfruit–guava (a Vitamin B and theanine) beverage.
Jackfruit smoothies or milkshakes.
Atu Kos is smoked jackfuit – a way of preserving it, to use when it is out of season in Sri Lanka.

Wood
The wood of the tree is used for the production of various musical instruments. In Indonesia it forms part of the gamelan and in the Philippines, its soft wood is made into the hull of a kutiyapi, a type of Philippine boat lute. It is also used to make the body of the Indian drums mridangam and kanjira. It is also widely used in the manufacture of furniture.Jackfruit wood is also used in roof constructions and doors and windows in older houses.The heartwood of the jackfruit tree is used by Buddhist forest monastics in Southeast Asia as a dye, giving the robes of the monks in those traditions their traditional off-brown colors.