Operation Jackfruit

So as most of you reading my blog probably know, my sister just recently left for Peace Corps service in Uganda.  So far, she says her diet mostly consists of goat, pork, millet, what sounds likes polenta, and plantains steamed in banana leaves (that's what she said.. but I'm thinking its probably plantain leaves).  I'd heard of the African jackfruit that's commonly used as a meat substitute and told her to look out for it when she went.  She replied that jackfruit was now her absolute favorite and tasked me with sending her a recipe. This is a story of my struggles.

A little research on the internet led me to discover that mostly jackfruit is sold canned in brine or syrup.  Certain she'd have little access to canned goods, I went on a search to find the elusive fresh jackfruit.  Jackfruit is mainly found in Southeast Asia, but is widely available in parts of East Africa as well. Denver isn't exactly the most ethnically diverse city in the world, but we have a large enough Vietnamese population to sustain possibly 75 - 100 pho restaurants, so it wasn't as hard to find as the internet made it seem.

A young jackfruit can weigh up to 80 pounds I hear.  This sentence on Wikipedia didn't quite register.  I chose the smallest fruit available at the market, which turned out to weigh about 20 pounds.  At $1.49 a pound for an exotic fruit that flew half way across the planet, I thought it was a steal - but actually that's the most expensive single piece of fruit I've ever purchased.

At this point I'm still all smiles.  Despite the rash forming on my forearm, this still appeared to be a fun experiment.  Note at this point the fruit is still closed.  This leads me to my biggest mistake.  Putting my fantastic Shun boning knife into that evil creature.

I've since read that the best course of action is to coat your knife in coconut oil before cutting.  A jackfruit is full of this white latex like substance that I'm pretty confident led to the invention of adhesive.  I can't figure out where the goo of death comes from but I think mostly from the core.  Its nearly impossible to avoid, so I recommend wearing gloves and extracting the core as soon as possible. Once open there are several parts to the fruit.

First there are very large seeds.  Each seed is surrounded by the fruit part, which if ripe is slightly yellow.  The fruit pods are are surrounded by tentacle like fibers.  The tentacles are the meat substitute portion - it's not tasty raw.  The orange/yellow fruit part tastes like a partially dehydrated mango.  I've found it tasty on salads, salsas, in chia seed puddings, anywhere you'd like to see a mango, etc..  As you can imagine, a 20 pound fruit yields a lot of this stuff, so get creative.  The seeds are in two shells.  The first pops off when you take it out of the fruit, the second comes off if you boil it.  I guess a lightly salted jackfruit seed is some sort of delicacy, but its pretty starchy.  I ended up putty it in a curry.  A very starchy curry.  If you have a burning desire not to waste food like I do, I recommend cutting them thinly and using it sparingly on a salad -- or feeding it to chickens (which is what I will do in the future).

Breaking apart the pieces is tedious.  I recommend separating the three parts into separate bowls.  The fruits just pop out and you can extract the seed from the fruit pod.  Once all the fruit pods are out, you are just left with the stringy flesh part.  I'd cut this out with scissors.  Be careful with the remains! We usually feed leftovers to the chickens, but I couldn't bring myself to offer them this sticky mess for fear their crops would get stuck closed or something!!

Once you have the tentacles isolated, you are home free. Simply slathering them in barbeque sauce and sauteing for 20 minutes will do the trick.  But try this - adapting theppk.com's Snobby Joe recipe (which I make SO frequently) and subbing the lentils for the jackfruit tentacles.  Recipe is as follows:

3-4 cups jackfruit tentacles
1 Tbsp oil (I like coconut)
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb tomatoes (two big ones)
3 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp oregano1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
2 Tbsp maple syrup

Saute the onions and peppers in oil first, then add the rest except maple syrup.  The jackfruit will start rigid and tough and slowly break down into a noodle like substance.  Add the maple syrup about 5 minutes before you think you are ready.  Serve open face on bread, if you'd like.  As difficult and unpleasant and breaking apart the fruit was, the results were pretty spectacular.  I recommend buying the young jackfruit in brine in a can though.