It's tough to believe we've been living on a fruit farm for as long as we have without asking anyone about the availability of jackfruit in the area...when one day we did just that...to which the response was, ‘we have a jackfruit tree right there…’ (insert jaw-dropping face here)
What is jackfruit some may ask?
Only the largest, most delicious treefruit known to man, that’s all. Michelle and I found good ol’ jack in an Asian market in Toronto. Not sure what record weight has been recorded to date, but we saw one at market in excess of 30 pounds...not too shabby for a hanging fruit…
There was one lonely jackfruit hanging all this time right under our very noses! Yeehaw!
The tip on ripeness came down to when it began to share its heavenly aroma...it wasn't quite there, but we were ecstatic nonetheless.
A few weeks of patient waiting ensued, and finally the magical day arrived...and not a second too soon! As I walked to the tree in preparation for harvest, and yelled out ‘rats’, Michelle had no idea how literal I was being. Seems another smaller critter got a hankerin’ for that juicy fruit goodness during the night, and bored out a couple fruit pockets. Damn rats with excellent taste in fruit!! (insert crazy old man shaking fists in anger graphic here…)
The fruit flies were amassin’ too. No time to waste! A quick surgical slice, and little jack was free to rush down to the intensive care of my cutting board.
Oh the aroma!!
A quick quartering of precious jack revealed a massive treasure trove of seed filled fruit pods, each soft and ripe to a degree we've never come close to witnessing.
The jackfruit we've found at market have been tasty, but many times a bit tough or stringy. The ends of these fresh pods quite literally melted in the mouth. Spectacular! And so much of it!
We ended up filling a large, and I do mean LARGE, stainless steel bown full of fruit. Enough for days of sharing with the others here at the farm. A small batch for Mikey frozen and stashed in the freezer, and the jackfruit experience was complete. Jackfruit is quite excellent no matter how you find it, whether fresh, frozen, or dried, but if you truly feel the need to be alive, I highly recommend the tree ripened jackfruit experience. One more kickass gift from God and mother nature. Thanks to both!
Rock on!
Mike
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