Jackfruit is the largest fruit in the world. We have two jackfruit trees on our property. One of them is fruiting well. It has about 10 fruit on it in various sizes. I picked this one about a week ago because it had a large crack in it. It ripened over the week so I cut it open today. WHAT A MESS! I recommend before you try and cut one open yourself and process it, read how to do it. I read a number of different articles and watched a few videos. If you get it just right you can avoid the latex which is like glue, super sticky glue. You can see it above in the picture. You need to oil your knife and board before you start to help in the clean up process later. Even oiling it didn’t make it easier. I should’ve wrapped the handle in plastic before I started. I saw that one video, but thought it a bit much work, but now, I wish I would’ve worn gloves, and saran wrapped my whole kitchen before I started. There are three different parts to the fruit you can eat. You can see the seed above, they’re supposed to taste like a nut when roasted. There’s the pod, which is the orange pocket that surrounds the seed, which we are drying, and then there is the shredded looking stuff in between which you can make into a vegan pulled pork type of food. Following is a picture of the pods which are in the process of drying, as well as the seeds and shredded pieces. I’ve had dried jack fruit before, and really like it. I’m going to be making the “pork” today and roasting the seeds. We’ll see how that comes out. Jackfruit can range from 10 to 100 pounds, there are record setting ones that are even larger. I’d said this one weighed closer to 10. I have a feeling I’m going to feel sticky for about a week, and this is after I scrubbed myself with comet. I know I know, not good, but did I tell you it was a MESS!
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