
Fruit Mutiny: Whither the breadfruit? - Petiver
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/08/01/fruit-mutiny/
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vince_refiti
The bread-fruit tree is ubiquitous in Samoa and it is a food staple used much
like potatoes. My father planted a tree in the early seventies in Fasito'outa
that is still feeding families in the area today.

It has been used for famine relief in the past. They were buried in pits and
as a consequence they fermented, and the foul-smelling masi was used as food.

Best cooked baked, especially in an umu earth-oven with fish, pork and
chicken. Mmmm, memories.

~~~
huhtenberg
Does it really smell/taste like bread when baked?

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pacala
Breadfruit range doesn't seem particularly suited for "the lower 48".
According to this map, it's growing range is hugging the Equator.
[http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer12articles/will-
bread...](http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer12articles/will-breadfruit-
solve-the-world-hunger-crisis.html)

~~~
creshal
And apparently coincides with what little tropic forests are left?

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scythe
Some areas desperately in need of trees -- the Sahel in particular -- are
marked "suitable". The fact that breadfruit represents a substantially less
grass-and-shrub-like paradigm than traditional agriculture makes the
environmental impact of said agriculture potentially smaller.

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signal11
For those looking for something similar to breadfruit, jackfruit (Artocarpus
heterophyllus) is pretty easy to get in many ethnic shops in the UK. It can be
eaten as a (sweet and rather odorous) fruit, but when not quite ripe it's used
for all sorts of Asian curries
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit#Culinary_uses_for_unr...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit#Culinary_uses_for_unripe_fruit)

Here's an NPR article about it:
[http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/01/308708000/heres-...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/01/308708000/heres-
the-scoop-on-jackfruit-a-ginormous-fruit-to-feed-the-world)

~~~
durkie
and it makes a surprisingly good vegan/vegetarian pulled pork substitute:
[http://www.moreveganblog.com/2014/06/28/bbq-pulled-
jackfruit...](http://www.moreveganblog.com/2014/06/28/bbq-pulled-jackfruit/)

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Mikeb85
As interesting as this is, I don't think it'll solve anything given it grows
only around the equator. I know in the Caribbean they use a lot of breadfruit,
as well as 'breadnut' (similar, but slightly different), and a bunch of other
starchy fruits, tubers, and vegetables that we don't have. Of course, the
reason is that those things grow there, good luck growing any of it in Canada
(where I live). And imported these things aren't cheap.

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manachar
On the road to Hana there used to be a place that sold smoked breadfruit
tacos. Alas, by the time I got there they stopped selling it as it's labor
intensive and tourists wouldn't order it, preferring to eat kalua pig.

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mistermcgruff
I used to have a breadfruit tree in my yard in Tennessee. We would take the
fruit as it fell and line it up in the street and watch cars run over them.
Seeing them crushed was pretty satisfying (I was 9 years old at the time).

Then one day a car lost traction on our breadfruit gauntlet and the driver got
terribly pissed. Haven't played with the fruit since.

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jessaustin
This may have been the hedge apple, which resembles the breadfruit but
actually grows in temperate North America.

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comrade1
I really like breadfruit - I prefer it over potatoes. But it's not as simple
as potatoes. It's slightly toxic when raw (depends on the species) and
preparation, although not difficult, isn't as simple as potatoes.

That said, if it was actually regularly available I would buy it regularly. I
always assumed it wasn't available for the same reasons mangosteen wasn't
available in the u.s. - that it was banned due to worry about parasites. We
get mangosteen here in europe and I assume it's now available in the u.s. too.
I'll have to look for some breadfruit now...

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jmckib
Where did you find it? I've always wanted to try it since reading about it in
a Jules Verne novel.

~~~
koliber
I have seen fresh mangosteen at fruit and vegetable markets in London, near
Shadwell station.

