
Jackfruit could save millions from starvation - hemapani
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-miracle-fruit-tastes-like-pulled-pork-2015-8
======
titomc
I am from the Kerala state in India where this fruit is in abundance. My home
has 2 of those big trees.

About the pulled pork reference , I have had pulled pork in Arizona Phoenix
where I work now. The unripe jackfruit do not taste like that. Just an
"unripe" taste that's all. Unripe fruit has lot of milky sticky liquid oozing
from the hives inside the fruit.

In its unripe form , its used for frying , something like potato sticks
lookalike. In its ripe form its mixed with beef and made into squishy form.
Keralites eat a lot of beef,unlike other states in India. (where beef is
banned)

The seeds of the jackfruit , ( a single fruit has hundreds of seeds ) is used
to make curry mixed with sour mango and sun dried shrimp. The outer casing of
the jackfruit is re purposed as food to the cows. The jackfruit wood is good
for carpentry and is used to make door , almirahs , windows in Kerala homes.

Probably the author is just an author. Might not have experience with the real
fruit and do not know much about India as is with many western countries.

~~~
xtreme
Just to set the record straight, beef is not banned in many states in India,
especially the northeast.

[Legislation on cattle slaughter by
state]([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_slaughter_in_India#Legi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_slaughter_in_India#Legislation_by_State_or_Union_Territory))

~~~
MarkSweep
"24 out of 29 states in India currently have various regulations prohibiting
either the slaughter or sale of cows."

That sounds like most states ban it. Also the grandparent comment just said
"other states" without stating the number.

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vivin
Not popular in India? News to me. Maybe not all over India. But in Kerala, the
state I am from, Jackfruit is pretty popular there and is used to make a wide
variety of dishes. My grandparents house has many jackfruit trees and we
always had jackfruit to eat.

It tastes nothing like pulled pork to me though. It's mainly sweet and very
slightly tangy/sour. Fresh jackfruit has a kind of "crunch" to it. I can't
really describe the flavor without being self-referential... I mean, it kinda
tastes like... jackfruit. Or maybe like pineapple mixed with banana?

The smell can be overwhelming, especially when it goes bad. But it's not that
bad when it's fresh.

Oh and that sticky stuff is really sticky - hard to get off your clothes or
your hands.

~~~
chriskanan
The pulled pork reference is referring to unripe jack fruit, which has a very
meaty mouthfeel. It is not sweet and has a different taste. I tried some in a
Nepalese restaurant in Madison, WI, and it was very good:
[http://www.yelp.com/biz/himal-chuli-madison](http://www.yelp.com/biz/himal-
chuli-madison) [http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/himal-chuli-
madison?select=vh...](http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/himal-chuli-
madison?select=vhGj0sIxYPxWsbIAMugyZg)

~~~
shas3
Unripe jackfruit is totally like pork in texture - pulled or cubed. Only, as
is typical of plant-based food, it is not as juicy. You can use it in all the
ways that you can use pork - stews, jambalayas, with rice - except in a
sandwich. I'm pretty sure jackfruit is too dry for sandwiches. Though, if it
lends itself to pickling like cabbage, that may be a good way to incorporate
it into a sandwich.

~~~
AndyNemmity
Here in Phoenix there's a place that does pulled pork sandwhiches with
jackfruit, so clearly they are making it work somehow :)

~~~
lgas
Yeah the Randy Radish here in VA pulls it off. I'm not vegetarian/vegan but I
thought it was pretty good.

[http://www.therandyradish.com/menu](http://www.therandyradish.com/menu)

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giancarlostoro
I live in Florida, and sometimes as I drive throughout the state and see the
hundreds and hundreds (though it may be thousands) of oranges alongside the
road I wonder just how many go to waste that could be sent to places in need,
and then I wonder if there's other places that do the same... Most of the
United States is uninhabited, so I always wonder how much vegetation is just
sitting there that could feed others. Now I understand there would be a cost
in transporting these goods, as well as other factors, but still...

What if the same companies that sell you oranges could give some of those same
oranges to the homeless? Or use a portion of their profits to (without deceit)
send them to countries in need? Maybe I don't know enough about these things
to really talk, but having fed the homeless once upon a time for about a year
without the aid of government assistance I think we make too many excuses for
things that really should just be done. Ah well, maybe someday soon we'll see
true change that benefits all.

~~~
yardie
There is a movie from a decade ago called "Life and Debt." It explores how
international loans and aid have actually suppressed the local economies of
the countries they tried to help.

For example, chicken breast meat is very popular in the western world. Once
they remove the white meat where does the rest of it go. What the producers
can't sell domestically in the US or Canada they export to developing
countries at cut rate prices. This drives the local farmers out of business.

Before donating fruits to countries in need (and can grow the same fruit)
think long and hard about the impact that help might have on their local
economy. In any other scenario this would be considered dumping and that
country would be taken to WTO court.

~~~
Houshalter
Well of course. Any attempt at helping one person hurts another person. If you
give someone a free house, you put a builder out of work. If you give someone
free food, you put a farmer out of work.

But I don't think it's a zero-sum game. I think the total utility generated by
free food is worse than the disutility of the farmer losing his business. Now
those people have money to spend on other things that they would have spent on
food.

Protectionism benefits producers at the expense of consumers.

Of course ideally you wouldn't send food directly, but just money, which they
could use to buy food, or whatever they need.

~~~
digi_owl
> Well of course. Any attempt at helping one person hurts another person. If
> you give someone a free house, you put a builder out of work. If you give
> someone free food, you put a farmer out of work. <

I'm not sure i follow. Someone would have had to build something or farm
something in the first place for it to be given away.

~~~
Houshalter
In this case, that someone is a big company from another country. In the case
of donating food in general, instead of the money going to some local farmer,
it goes to some farmer in Brazil.

The economics of this are a bit more complicated than that though. If
importing food from Brazil was cheaper, someone should already be doing it
without any charitable intentions. And if if it's not, then it makes more
sense for the charity to buy the food locally than pay more to import it.

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harichinnan
Climbing up a jackfruit tree and carefully bringing the fruit down without
getting eaten alive by ants is a feat of endurance. Jackfruit trees grow tall
and the fruits are heavy, 30+ pounds on average. Also plucking the bulbs out
of the fruit is a laborious task. This is truly a fruit of love to be savored
from the backyard garden and rarely farmed at a large scale. Also eating too
many raw bulbs causes stomach upsets in most people and is most commonly
consumed as a well cooked dessert.

~~~
danneu
What makes jackfruit trees such a sight to behold is how much fruit is
accessible at waist/shoulder height (along with, of course, its sheer size).

~~~
titomc
short jackfruit trees might be crossbreeds. The original ones grow very tall.
The fruits can be harvested by climbing the tree and making use of rope to
bring down the fruit gracefully to the ground.

~~~
danneu
Interesting. My experience with jackfruit trees has been from the western
coast of Mexico, so maybe there's a difference there.

Though a google image search for "jackfruit tree" seems to show the trees I'm
familiar with. Not very tall with a good portion of fruit within arm's reach.

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billybilly1920
I like how the story reads like a 3rd grade book report on jackfruit.

~~~
trcollinson
I was thinking the same thing. The title could almost be the click-baitish
"One crazy trick to solve world hunger! You won't believe this fruit tastes
like pork!"

Fortunately I did learn a bit about a fruit I have never seen nor heard of
before. So I guess it was worthwhile.

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manishsharan
This article presumes that India has one cuisine, where Jackfruit is avoided.
This is false as India has several cuisines and Jackfruit is used in several
of those cuisines.

But if the article writer was looking for Tandoori Jackfruit, then yes, that
is true -- there is not tandoori jackfruit!

~~~
rpenm
Kathal kebab is fairly close to "tandoori jackfruit".

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supdog
USDA zone 9b or warmer. If you are looking for a versitile, exotic fruit with
high protein content that will grow outdoors in many cooler climates, check
out the pawpaw:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba)

~~~
flatline
We just had a local pawpaw festival, I had no idea such a fruit existed - like
a cross between a banana, mango, and papaya, but growing plentifully at 42
degrees north.

Apparently they have a short shelf-life - the fruit must be eaten or preserved
within a couple days of being picked. But they are quite tasty.

~~~
durkie
Are you talking about the Ohio pawpaw festival? We drove up there one year
just for the festival -- super fun :)

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shadeless
The first sentence saying "this giant fruit" and the first image lead me to
believe that it's big enough to fill a room. That was pretty confusing for a
minute.

~~~
jhhn
It's big as a watermelon, but with a different shape. Their trees are tall,
what makes dangerous to stay under them due to risk of the jackfruit falling
over you.

~~~
mfoy_
But the picture accidentally makes use of forced perspective to make the fruit
appear as though it's on a hardwood floor in an otherwise empty room, which it
dominates.

~~~
jhhn
Yes!... Like porn movies. :D

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somberi
Visiting Grandparents' in summer where magically a huge Jackfruit appears for
the kids to get their oil-soaked hands dirty, and pluck the bulbs from the
innards, and douse them with Ghee (Clarified butter) and eat dozens of them
till your stomach hurts is a passage of rite for many kids in Southern India
(atleast in the 80s). And add to scorching summer heat by toasting the seeds
in open fire and peel the skin of the seeds and eat even more of it, makes me
long for the fruit (and the innocence).

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tmaly
I eat this all the time when I am in the Philippines. It has one unique
property that was not mentioned in the article. Just as asparagus makes urine
smell like asparagus, jackfruit makes feces smell sweet like the fruit.

~~~
DaveSapien
SOLD!

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coreyoconnor
Doesn't taste like pulled pork to me. To me the flavor is bubblegum pineapple.
Which is fantastic! Ranch 99 will have Jackfruit on occasion. Wear latex
gloves while cutting. The "latex like substance" is in the white pith of the
fruit. There is a lot of the stuff and it's really, really sticky.

~~~
louhike
It tasted like banana for me. But yeah, definitely not pullpork. I ate a lot
of those in India, I really loved it with fresh mango (I never eat imported
ones now). I remember we bought a whole pre cutted fruit with friends after a
2 hours walk in the mountains (close to Kodaikanal, a beautiful place). It was
far bigger than the one in the video. The trees are really impressive.

~~~
vram22
>after a 2 hours walk in the mountains (close to Kodaikanal, a beautiful
place)

Where near Kodai? Yes, lots of jackfruit grows there, some height below the
town.

------
angerman
There are three very similar fruits I've met so far:

\- Durian (looks similar to Jackfruit, a little rounder, and spikier), which
is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore, and has a very strong smell. It has
a more creamy consistency, and tastes quite different from jackfruit. People
say, it's an acquired taste. Some love it, some hate it with passion.

\- Jackfruit, I got to know this first in Viet Nam, but it can also found it
in other places in Asia, smells and tastes sweeter. Also the reaction to it is
less extreme than to Durian; I've seen it on the Seychelles as well.

\- Breadfruit, I saw and eat it first on the Seychelles. It looks more similar
to Durian, in shape, but less spiky. Apparently it has a very short shelf
life, but you can make great fries from it.

It's very hard to describe taste. But I encourage to try it for yourself. (Or
for Durian, maybe start with chocolate coated Durian candy, or Durian ice
cream, and then go for the real thing; word of advice, if you buy it at the
market in pre cut pieces to eat right away, and you do not intend to make it
into cake or some derived dish, go for the more expensive packs, they are
usually better, less mushy. You will likely have to get over the smell
already, so taking the very mushy consistency out of the equation, may make
for a slightly more pleasant introduction to Durian. Jackfruit on the other
hand is pretty easy, I would say. Just pay attention to get fresh, not squishy
(e.g. they are too ripe, or old) pieces.

~~~
plaguuuuuu
Jackfruit is widely eaten in Asia. It's delicious and ... yeah, it's a fucking
fruit, so it could technically feed hungry people.

For the record, it doesn't take like pulled pork... in any respect
whatsoever...

Durian - good luck getting anyone to eat the bloody thing. I love it, but it's
an acquired taste.

~~~
jpatokal
The unripe fruit tastes _very_ different from the ripe fruit. It's common in
Indonesia as well, where _gudeg_ (unripe jackfruit curry) is the unofficial
dish of Yogyakarta:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudeg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudeg)

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pmorici
Seems to be a close relative of the Breadfruit which is similarly thought to
be a good way to feed people or so the tour guide told us when I visited the
National Botanical Garden.

[http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/breadfruit/](http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/breadfruit/)

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
Never had jackfruit, but I do miss my aunt's deep fried breadfruit. Mmmm.

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tomswartz07
I'd love to see what could be done to these with some selective farming.

Heck, a good number of years ago, this is what a wild banana looked like:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/In...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Inside_a_wild-
type_banana.jpg/1024px-Inside_a_wild-type_banana.jpg)

If some enterprising farmers can figure out how to minimize the seeds and
other less useful qualities, then there's a good chance this will be a new
staple.

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sweswas
If you have a bad history with fruit allergies (I'm apples, plums, peaches)
watch out with Jackfruit. I had a piece once and it was one of the worst oral
allergic reactions in my life.

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cyberjunkie
My ancestral home is Mangalore, so I've been there qutie often. The jackrfuit
is my favorite fruit! Once you rip it open, removing the compartments is
relatively easy. The seed is easier to remove. It's one of those fruits that
is incredibly sweet, tasty, and you can eat A LOT of it. It can be a meal by
itself and you won't feel sick of eating it.

~~~
fredfoobar
enchina saav maraya

~~~
cyberjunkie
what is my what? Sorry, Konkani speaker with nearly no grasp of Kannada and
Tulu.

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hownottowrite
You can pick up Jackfruit at many Asian groceries. In the DC area, Super
H-Mart _always_ has it. It's delicious.

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milkcircle
One of my amazing classmates in medical school is the founder of a company
called Global Village Fruit [1] where she works on making jackfruit available
internationally. In the Boston area her company has supplied numerous local
restaurants with the fruit (Veggie Galaxy makes a delicious jackfruit sandwich
out of her company's product), and she's done a wonderful job spreading
awareness of the jackfruit. I urge you to check out the company and learn how
you might be able to incorporate the jackfruit into your own recipes!

[1] [http://www.globalvillagefruit.com/](http://www.globalvillagefruit.com/)

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jestinjoy1
I am from Kerala, the southern state of India where Jack fruit is grown in
abundance. Traditionally Jack fruit tree haven't got the status of Apple,
Orange.. Now with reports in media saying that Apple, Orange etc available in
our part is made with the excessive help of pesticides, people began looking
at jackfruit since it can be grown without using pesticides or fertilizers.
Now some startups has moved into commercial production of jackfruit products
like
[http://www.jackfruit365.com/about_us.html](http://www.jackfruit365.com/about_us.html)

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callesgg
So why is it better than any other vegetable or fruit? Does it have extremely
good energy conversion efficiency. (Sun light to carbohydrates)

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kefka
Sigh.

I live in Bloomington, Indiana, USA. And our local grocer (Kroger) has
Jackfruit. It's $5/lb and the pod is around 6-10 lbs.

They had one on sale, and I bought it, only knowing the name. The thing was
pretty good, given I knew very little about preparation.

One thing though, is use olive oil liberally. The latex it gives off is sticky
as hell. Not even soap will get it to release.

~~~
sonabinu
De-skining the jackfruit is an art. You liberally apply coconut/olive oil on
your hands and then get to the fruit !!! Hope you enjoy it more next time :)

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DaveSapien
I live in Cambodia and have always been put off jackfruit by its smell. With
plenty of other fruit I love, I've just never bothered to try it...till today.
I shall give it a go this evening. I doubt the pork taste very much, as a
vegetarian I hear that a lot, "it taste just like bacon", no, no it doesn't.

~~~
vfdfv
Dude, definitely try it. It doesn't taste anything like pulled pork, ripe or
unripe.

Source: frequent eater of Cambodian jackfruit :)

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personjerry
I was recently informed that the popularity of Ethiopian food in North America
has driven the price of their bread up to a level where Ethiopian people can't
really afford it anymore. While publicity is good, I hope such a pattern
doesn't emerge for the jackfruit, so that it can be maintained as a cheap
food.

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hollerith
Trader Joe's has jackfruit chips occasionally.

Pretty expensive, though, per pound or per calorie.

~~~
vram22
Probably just taking advantage of the novelty / exotic factor. In India the
stuff is quite cheap, at least near where it grows.

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vfdfv
It's very prevalent here in Cambodia too. One of my favourites fruits, and it
in NO WAY tastes like pulled pork when it's unripe.

I actually prefer it slightly unripe, since it can quickly become exceedingly
gooey and sweet.

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vigile_
The article misses some really important information. If you let some pieces
of Jack Fruit soaked in rum for months... It saves body and soul!! ;-) Recipe
from Reunion Island available if you ping me...

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known
I prefer
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income)
FTW

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nitin_flanker
Ohh my goodness. This tastes better than a mango when gets ripen.

