The jackfruit, jakfruit or nangka (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). A mature jackfruit tree produces some 200 fruits per year, with older trees bearing up to 500 fruits in a year. in addition to the ripened fruit.

The jackfruit tree is well-suited to tropical lowlands and is widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world, particularly from South Asia to Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Its ripe fruit can be sweet depending on grown variety, which is commonly used in desserts. Canned green jackfruit has a mild taste and meat-like texture that lends itself to being called "vegetable meat". Both ripe and unripe fruits are consumed. It is available internationally, canned or frozen, and in chilled meals, as are various products derived from the fruit, such as noodles and chips. In turn, is derived from the Malayalam word , when the Portuguese Empire arrived in India at Calicut on the Malabar Coast in 1499. Later the Malayalam name was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede (1636–1691) in the third volume of . Henry Yule translated Hendrik's book in Jordanus Catalani's () Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East. The Malayalam is derived from the Proto-Dravidian root ("fruit, vegetable").

Centuries later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack (1795–1822), a Scottish botanist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Sumatra, and Malaya.

is another name used in Philippine English and in Malay, both from the same Austronesian language family.

Description

thumb|upright|alt=A jackfruit tree trunk|Tree trunk showing texture and coloration

Shape, trunk and leaves

Artocarpus heterophyllus grows as an evergreen tree that has a relatively short trunk and dense treetop. It easily reaches heights of The male flowers are greenish, some flowers are sterile. The male flowers are hairy and the perianth ends with two membrane. The individual and prominent stamens are straight with yellow, roundish anthers. Pollen grains are tiny, around 60 microns in diameter. After the pollen distribution, the stamens become ash-gray and fall off after a few days. Later, all the male inflorescences also fall off. The greenish female flowers, with hairy and tubular perianth, have a fleshy flower-like base. The female flowers contain an ovary with a broad, capitate, or rarely bilobed scar. The blooming time ranges from December until February or March.

Fruit

alt=Jackfruit tree with fruits|thumb|upright=1.2|Tree with fruits

The ellipsoidal to roundish fruit is a multiple fruit formed from the fusion of the ovaries of multiple flowers.

thumb|Tree with unripened fruits

The fruits consist of a fibrous, whitish core (rachis) about thick. Radiating from this are many individual fruits, long. They are elliptical to egg-shaped, light brownish achenes with a length of about and a diameter of .

There may be about 100–500 seeds per fruit. An average fruit consists of 27% edible seed coat, 15% edible seeds, 20% white pulp (undeveloped perianth, rags) and bark and 10% core.

The fruit matures during the rainy season from July to August. The bean-shaped achenes of the jackfruit are coated with a firm yellowish aril (seed coat, flesh), which has an intense sweet taste at maturity of the fruit. The pulp is enveloped by many narrow strands of fiber (undeveloped perianth), which run between the hard shell and the core of the fruit and are firmly attached to it. When pruned, the inner part (core) secretes a sticky, milky liquid, The odor of the pulp of the opened fruit resembles those of pineapple and banana;

Ecology

thumb|Tree in Bangladesh

The species has expanded excessively because its fruits, which naturally fall to the ground and open, are eagerly eaten by small mammals, such as the common marmoset and coati. The seeds are then dispersed by these animals, spreading jackfruit trees that compete for space with native tree species. The supply of jackfruit has allowed the marmoset and coati populations to expand. Since both prey opportunistically on bird eggs and nestlings, the increase in marmoset and coati populations is detrimental to local birds.

As an invasive species

The jackfruit can become an invasive species as in Brazil's Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro or at the Horto Florestal in neighbouring Niterói. The Tijuca is mostly an artificial secondary forest, whose planting began during the mid-nineteenth century; jackfruit trees have been a part of the park's flora since it was founded.

Cultivation

thumb|upright=1.2|Extracting [[arils before separating the seeds and flesh]]

History

The geographic origin of the jackfruit is not precisely known, although it may have arisen in the Western Ghats. Early cultivation also occurred in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, southern China, and the East Indies.

Production and marketing

In 2017, India produced of jackfruit, followed by Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia.

The marketing of jackfruit involves three groups: producers, traders, and middlemen, including wholesalers and retailers. The marketing channels are rather complex. Large farms sell immature fruit to wholesalers, which helps cash flow and reduces risk, whereas medium-sized farms sell the fruit directly to local markets or retailers.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="100">

File:Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) - photo of the inside.jpg|Packed jackfruit sold in a market

File:Selling jackfruit in bangkok3.jpg|Selling jackfruit in Bangkok

File:JackfruitNYC.jpg|At a fruit stand in Manhattan's Chinatown

File:Unripe Jackfruit.jpg|Lengthwise-cut unripe jackfruit

File:Artocarpus heterophyllus.jpg|Cut jackfruit

File:Chakkappazham.jpg|Polythene-packaged cut jackfruit

</gallery>

Commercial availability

Outside countries of origin, fresh jackfruit can be found at food markets throughout Southeast Asia. It is also extensively cultivated in the Brazilian coastal region, where it is sold in local markets. It is available canned in sugary syrup, or frozen, already prepared and cut. Jackfruit industries are established in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, where the fruit is processed into products such as flour, noodles, papad, and ice cream. It is on restaurant menus in preparations such as taco fillings and vegan versions of pulled pork dishes.

Culinary uses

thumb|upright=1.2|Vegan "pulled pork" style jackfruit burgers

Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet, with subtle pineapple- or banana-like flavor. After roasting, the seeds may be used as a commercial alternative to chocolate aroma.

South Asia

In many countries, including Bangladesh, the fruit is consumed on its own. The unripe fruit is used in curry, and the seed is often dried and preserved to be later used in curry. In Sri Lanka these two varieties are called waraka and wela respectively.

A sweet preparation called chakkavaratti (jackfruit jam) is made by seasoning pieces of muttomvarikka fruit flesh in jaggery, which can be preserved and used for many months. The fruits are either eaten alone or as a side to rice. The juice is extracted and either drunk straight or as a side. The juice is sometimes condensed and eaten as candies. The seeds are either boiled or roasted and eaten with salt and hot chilies. They are also used to make spicy side dishes with rice. Jackfruit may be ground and made into a paste, then spread over a mat and allowed to dry in the sun to create a natural chewy candy. The ripe fruit is often an ingredient in local desserts such as halo-halo and the Filipino turon. The ripe fruit, besides also being eaten raw as it is, is also preserved by storing in syrup or by drying.

Many Brazilian recipes use jackfruit to create vegan meat, sweets or various recipes where animal meat is replaced by vegan jackfruit meat. and is superior to teak for building furniture. The wood of the jackfruit tree is important in Sri Lanka and is exported to Europe. Jackfruit wood is widely used in the manufacture of furniture, doors and windows, in roof construction,

The wood of the tree is used for the production of musical instruments. In Indonesia, hardwood from the trunk is carved out to form the barrels of drums used in the gamelan, and in the Philippines, its soft wood is made into the body of the kutiyapi, a type of boat lute. It is also used to make the body of the Indian string instrument veena and the drums mridangam, thimila, and kanjira.

In culture

The jackfruit has played a significant role in Indian agriculture for centuries. Archaeological findings in India have revealed that jackfruit was cultivated in India 3,000 to 6,000 years ago. It has also been widely cultivated in Southeast Asia.

The ornate wooden plank called avani palaka, made of the wood of the jackfruit tree, is used as the priest's seat during Hindu ceremonies in Kerala. In Vietnam, jackfruit wood is prized for the making of Buddhist statues in temples The heartwood is used by Buddhist forest monastics in Southeast Asia as a dye, giving the robes of the monks in those traditions their distinctive light-brown color.

Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala (which hosts jackfruit festivals) and Tamil Nadu.

See also

  • Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia
  • Chempedak, a closely related Southeast Asian fruit sometimes confused with jackfruit
  • Durian, a fruit similar in appearance but from an unrelated tree, also from Southeast Asia

References

Video

  • Short BBC documentary on the jackfruit [https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0hlyqxd/sri-lanka-s-healthy-super-fruit-that-saved-lives]