Winner is jackfruit
The jackfruit merits this position for more than one reason. With roots that extend to the moist sub-soil, the fruit is drought resistant, it withstands pests and is highly nutritious (File) The jackfruit merits this position for more than one reason. With roots that extend to the moist sub-soil, the fruit is drought resistant, it withstands pests and is highly nutritious (File)
Its light green spikey thick skin, oval shape and giant size give the jackfruit the appearance of a dragon’s egg. Peeling it requires some skill, and slathering of the knife as well as hands with generous amounts of oil — a smelly sap oozes out, as if in protest. However, if you do manage to negotiate your way to the jackfruit’s bulbous inner compartment, a treat lies in store. In the kitchens of southern, western and eastern India — as well as in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia — the starchy unripe fruit takes on the flavours of condiments as diverse as kokum, fenugreek, ginger, cumin and pepper. But the jackfruit’s biggest curse is being seen as a substitute.
In vegetarian meals, the unripened fruit is a replacement for meat — recent vegan interventions in the gastronomical arts even describe it as akin to pulled pork. The juicy ripened fruit cooked in ghee and jaggery makes a lip-smacking halwa yet the jackfruit suffers the condescension of being called the poor man’s mango. But on Wednesday, the jackfruit will get its rightful position in the culinary pantheon: It will be designated Kerala’s state fruit.
The jackfruit merits this position for more than one reason. With roots that extend to the moist sub-soil, the fruit is drought resistant, it withstands pests and is highly nutritious. A jackfruit tree can yield more than 150 fruits a year and lives for more than 100 years. Its leaves make good cattle-feed and the timber goes into the making of musical instruments. The flesh can be made into curries or used to make chips, candy or jam — even ice-cream. When roasted, its seeds acquire a chestnut like crunch; they can be cooked in gravies, turned into cake flour or used as a medicine for indigestion.
But an enormous amount of jackfruit goes waste. Unofficial surveys — such as the one conducted by the NGO, People Service Society Palakkad in 2015 — reckon that almost 60 per cent of the harvest goes into trash cans in Kerala. Certainly not befitting for a state fruit.
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