Jackfruit

It’s January as I write this, and maybe you’ve decided to try Veganuary - or one of your food resolutions was to mix things up a bit and use new ingredients to change up familiar recipes. Either way, it can be nice to get to know the jackfruit.

A big, green fruit full of… meat?

Jackfruit is a fruit native to Southern India, and grows in several tropical regions around the world. It is related to fruits like fig and mulberry. The fruit itself is big and heavy. It’s green on the outside and bright yellow on the inside.

In countries like the UK where I live for example, we most often encounter the jackfruit in tin cans, in water and almost ready to use. It doesn’t look as inspiring as the fresh fruit perhaps, a bit more faded in colour and kind of looks and feels a bit like raw meat (but doesn’t smell like it, thankfully!). And herein lies a huge part of the reason why jackfruit has become popular all over the world, even in places where it doesn’t grow naturally. It is a great substitute for meat in some dishes, and resembles the texture of shredded meat - so for people who are wanting to cut down on meat consumption but still crave some of those dishes, it’s a brilliant (and fairly cheap) choice. As the flavour of it is fairly neutral (quite sweet but not overbearing), it’s easy to season it to taste the way you want to create the illusion of eating pork, chicken or beef for example.

Jackfruit can be used to create vegan/vegetarian versions of pulled pork, tacos, burritos, chilli, burgers and more. It cooks quickly and is quite easy to handle.

I’m happy to share that the jackfruit is also very nutritious (my guess is that this will be the case especially when consumed in season and as unprocessed as possible), it contains quite decent amounts of magnesium, manganese, potassium, protein, fibre, the immune-boosting vitamins A and C, and also a fair amount of carbs and calories.

Studies seem to show that the jackfruit can help lower blood sugar levels. It also contains both carotenoids and flavanones, known for their anti-inflammatory properties.

Some people will be allergic to jackfruit, so be careful if you try it for the first time. If you are allergic to birch pollen for example, chances are you won’t react well to the fruit.

It is an amazing, versatile fruit that you can eat raw, both ripe and unripe, and roast, sauté or add to lots of different dishes.

Have you cooked with jackfruit before? What did you make? Message me on Instagram @TheFromScratchBody!