-Wait, what’s a jackfruit???
You may know, but we didn’t, before we moved to India. And if I had ever encountered one on a tree, I certainly wouldn’t know what to do with it! Take a look at these pictures. Weird, right? And they’re huge!
Jackfruits are one of the “big 3” most auspicious fruits in Tamil Nadu. This is significant, as India produces 40% of the world’s mangoes and 20% of the world’s bananas (side note: did you know the banana plant is officially an herb?).
Anyway, we’ve been seeing jackfruit vendors painstakingly dissecting these huge fruits and decided to finally get a closer look (and have a taste!) We had a chat with Rajendran, who showed us how it’s done.
It takes a whole lot of skill and practice, a sharp knife and regular applications of (ginger?) oil to extract the edible portions of this fruit. You can’t just grab one on the way home and crack it open for the next neighborhood barbecue. Rajendran showed us how it’s done on the video below:
As it turns out, jackfruit is a staple all over southeast Asia. And yet we’d never heard of it. Go figure!
