Jackfruit
Jackfruit tree with fruit
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Moraceae
Tribe:	Artocarpeae
Genus:	Artocarpus
Species:	A. heterophyllus
Binomial name
Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.
Synonyms
Artocarpus brasiliensis L. ex Carl Linnaeus Artocarpus heterophylla Lam. ex Lamarck Artocarpus maxima Blanco. ex Blancoi

The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus)^[1] is a species of tree in the Artocarpus genus of the mulberry family (Moraceae). It is native to parts of South and Southeast Asia, and is believed to have originated in the southwestern rain forests of India, in present-day Kerala, coastal Karnataka and Maharashtra. This tree is widely cultivated in tropical regions of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Jackfruit is also found in East Africa, e.g., in Uganda, Tanzania and Mauritius, as well as throughout Brazil and Caribbean nations such as Jamaica.

The jackfruit tree is well suited to tropical lowlands, and its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit,^[2] reaching as much as 80 pounds (36 kg) in weight and up to 36 inches (90 cm) long and 20 inches (50 cm) in diameter.^[3]

Etymology and names[link]

The word "jackfruit" comes from Portuguese jaca, which in turn, is derived from the Malayalam language term, chakka (Malayalam:ചക്ക).^[4] When the Portuguese arrived in India at Kozhikode (Calicut) on the Malabar Coast (Kerala) in 1498, the Malayalam name chakka was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede (1678–1703) in the Hortus Malabaricus, vol. iii in Latin. Henry Yule translated the book in Jordanus Catalani's (1678–1703) Mirabilia Descripta: The Wonders of the East.^[5]

The common English name "jackfruit" was used by the physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India.^[6][7] 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 Malaysia.^[8] This is apocryphal, as the fruit was called a "jack" in English before William Jack was born: for instance, in Dampier's 1699 book, A New Voyage Round the World.^[9][10]

Jackfruit tree

The fruit is popularly known as palappazam (பலாப்பழம்) in Tamil, kos (කොස්) or herali (හෙරලි) and pana(පනා) for flower in Sinhala, kaṭahar (कटहर) in Nepali, kanţhal (কাঁঠাল) in Bengali, kaṭ-hal or kaṭa-hal (कटहल) in Hindi, phaṇas (फणस) in Marathi, Phannas in the Urdu language, panasam (पनसम्) in Sanskrit, paṇasa (ପଣସ) in Oriya, halasina haṇṇu in Kannada, panasa paṇḍu (పనస పండ్లు) in Telugu and Panas (पणस) in Konkani.

In southeast Asia, it is called mít in Vietnamese, nangka in Indonesian, kanun in Thai, and langka in Tagalog, an official language in the Philippines. The Portuguese Jaca became "zang koh" (桑科) in Chinese.

In Luganda, it is called Ffene

There is a village in the Ratnagiri district of Maharastra, India named Phansu, after the Marathi word for jackfruit (phanas).

Cultivation and ecology[link]

Jackfruit opened

The jackfruit has played a significant role in Indian agriculture for centuries. Archeological findings in India have revealed jackfruit was cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago.

The jackfruit is considered an invasive species in Brazil, especially in the Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The Tijuca forest is mostly an artificial secondary forest, whose planting began during the mid-19th century, and jackfruit trees have been a part of the park's flora since its founding. Recently, the species expanded excessively because its fruits, once they had naturally fallen to the ground and opened, were eagerly eaten by small mammals such as the common marmoset and the coati. The seeds are dispersed by these animals, which allows the jackfruit to compete for space with native tree species. Additionally, as the marmoset and coati also prey opportunistically on bird's eggs and nestlings, the supply of jackfruit as a ready source of food has allowed them to expand their populations, to the detriment of the local bird populations. Between 2002 and 2007, 55,662 jackfruit saplings were destroyed in the Tijuca Forest area in a deliberate culling effort by the park's management.^[11]

Commercial availability[link]

Outside of its countries of origin, fresh jackfruit can be found at Asian food markets, especially in the Philippines. It is also extensively cultivated in the Brazilian coastal region, where it is sold in local markets. It is available canned in sugar syrup, or frozen. Dried jackfruit chips are produced by various manufacturers. In northern Australia, particularly in Darwin, jackfruit can be found at outdoor produce markets during the dry season. Outside of countries where it is grown, jackfruit can be obtained year-round both canned or dried. It has a ripening season in Asia of late spring to late summer.^[12]

Jackfruit[link]

The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy and fibrous, and is a source of dietary fibre. The flavour is similar to a tart banana. Varieties are distinguished according to the characteristics of the fruits' flesh. In Brazil, three varieties are recognized. These are: jaca-dura, or "hard" variety, which has firm flesh and the largest fruits that can weigh between 15 and 40 kilograms each; jaca-mole, or "soft" variety, which bears smaller fruits, with softer and sweeter flesh; and jaca-manteiga, or "butter" variety, which bears sweet fruits, whose flesh has a consistency intermediate between the "hard" and "soft" varieties.^[13]

In Kerala, two varieties of jackfruit predominate: varikka(വരിക്ക) and koozha(കൂഴ). Varikka has slightly hard inner flesh when ripe, while the inner flesh of the ripe koozha fruit is very soft and almost dissolving. A sweet preparation called chakka varattiyathu(jackfruit jam) is made by seasoning the varikka fruit flesh pieces in jaggery, which can be preserved and used for many months. Huge jackfruits up to four feet in length with matching girth are sometimes seen in Kerala^{[citation needed]}. In Mangalore, Karnataka, the varieties are called bakke and imba. The pulp of the imba jackfruit is ground and made into a paste, then spread over a mat and allowed to dry in the sun to create a natural chewy candy.

Young jackfruit

Selling jackfruit in Bangkok

Dishes and preparations[link]

Jackfruit chips

Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines.^[14] It can be eaten unripe (young) when cooked, or ripe uncooked.^[14] The seeds may be boiled or baked like beans. The leaves are used as a wrapping for steamed idlis. In Singapore, fried jackfruit is known as cempedak goreng.

Young fruit[link]

The young fruit is called polos in Sri Lanka and idichakka or idianchakka in Kerala. It is a dish with spices to replace meat curries in Sri Lankan and eastern-Indian (Bengali) and Kerala cuisine. The skin of unripe jack fruit must be peeled first and discarded, then the whole fruit can be chopped into edible portions and cooked to be eaten. The raw young fruit is not edible.^[14] Young jackfruit has a mild flavour and distinctive poultry-like texture. The cuisines of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Vietnam use cooked young jackfruit.^[14] In Indonesia, young jackfruit is cooked with coconut milk as gudeg. In many cultures, jackfruit is boiled and used in curries as a staple food.

In the Philippines, it is cooked with coconut milk (ginataang langka). In Reunion Island (France), it is cooked with shrimp or smoked pork.

Ripe fruit[link]

Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet with subtle flavouring. It can be used to make a variety of dishes, including custards, cakes, halo-halo and more. Ripe jackfruit arils are sometimes seeded, fried or freeze-dried and sold as jackfruit chips.

Seed[link]

Seeds from ripe fruits are edible and are prepared by boiling in salted water for about 25 minutes. They have a milky, sweet taste. In many parts of India, roasted salted seed is also eaten and considered a delicacy.

Other uses[link]

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 hull of a kutiyapi, a type of Philippine boat lute. It is also used to make the body of the Indian string instrument veena and the drums mridangam and kanjira; the golden yellow-coloured timber with good grains is used for building furniture and house construction in India. The ornate wooden plank called avani palaka made of the wood of jackfruit tree is used as the priest's seat during Hindu ceremonies in Kerala.

Jackfruit wood is widely used in the manufacture of furniture, doors and windows, and in roof construction. 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.^[15]

Cultural significance[link]

This section requires expansion.

The jackfruit is one of the three auspicious fruits of Tamil Nadu, along with the mango and banana, known as the mukkani (முக்கனி). These are referred to as ma-pala-vaazhai (mango-jack-banana). The three fruits (mukkani) are also related to the three arts of Tamil (mu-Tamizh).^[16]

Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh.^[17]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jackfruit

• Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis)
• Cempedak (Artocarpus champeden)
• Marang (Artocarpus odoratissimus)
• Durian, an unrelated fruit similar in appearance
• Fig (Ficus carica)
• List of fruits

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jackfruit

• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Artocarpus heterophyllus
• Fruits of Warm Climates: Jackfruit and Related Species
• California Rare Fruit Growers: Jackfruit Fruit Facts
• Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) on Wayne's Word
• Science in India with Special Reference to Agriculture
• How to Select and Prepare a Jackfruit (Online Video)