Jackfruit

Naming

The word "jackfruit" comes from Portuguese ''jaca'', which in turn, is derived from the Malayalam language term, ''chakka' ' in Garo Hills, Meghalaya, India it is Tebrong' . When the Portuguese arrived in India at Kozhikode on the Malabar Coast in 1498, the Malayalam name ''chakka'' was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede in the ''Hortus Malabaricus'', vol. iii in Latin. Henry Yule translated the book in Jordanus Catalani's ''Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East''.

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''. Centuries later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack , a Scottish botanist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Sumatra, and Malaysia. This could not be true, 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''. It is called Kathal in Bengali, Katahal in Hindi, Pala-pazham in Tamil , Panasa in Telugu, Phanas in Marathi and Gujarati, Halasu in Kannada, Fenesi in Kiswahili, Nangka in Malay and Indonesian, Langka in the Philippines, and Ka-noon in Thailand.

Habitat

The jackfruit has played a significant role in Indian agriculture for centuries. Archeological findings in India have revealed that jackfruit was cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago. It is also widely cultivated in southeast Asia.

Thailand and Vietnam are major producers of jackfruit, a lot of which are cut, prepared and canned in a sugary syrup , and exported overseas, frequently to North America and Europe.

In other areas, the jackfruit is considered an invasive species as in Brazil's Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The Tijuca 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 has expanded excessively; 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 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.

Uses

Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines.Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet with subtle flavoring. It can be used to make a variety of dishes, including custards, cakes, ''halo-halo'' and more. In India, when the Jackfruit is in season, an ice cream chain store called "Naturals" carries Jackfruit flavored ice cream.

Ripe jackfruit arils are sometimes seeded, fried or freeze-dried and sold as jackfruit chips.

The seeds from ripe fruits are edible, are said to have a milky, sweet taste, and may be boiled, baked or roasted. When roasted the flavor of the seeds is comparable to chestnuts. Seeds are used as snacks either by boiling or fire roasted, also used to make desserts. For making the traditional breakfast dish in southern India: idlis, the fruit is used along with rice as an ingredient and jackfruit leaves are used as a wrapping for steaming. Jackfruit dosas can be prepared by grinding jackfruit flesh along with the batter.The cuisines of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam use cooked young jackfruit. 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 northern Thailand, the boiled young jackfruit is used in the Thai salad called ''tam kanun''. In West Bengal the unripe green jackfruit called "aechor/ichor" is used as a vegetable to make various spicy curries, side-dishes and as fillings for cutlets & chops. It is especially sought after by vegetarians who substitute this for meat and hence is nicknamed as gacch-patha . In the Philippines, it is cooked with coconut milk . In Réunion Island, it is cooked either alone or with animal flesh, such as shrimp or smoked pork. In southern India unriped Jackfruit slices are deep fried to make chips.In Udipi cuisine Jack fruit is used make appa and Addae.

Because unripe jackfruit has a meat-like taste, it is used in curry dishes with spices, in Bihar,Jharkhand, Sri Lankan, Andhran, eastern-Indian and and Keralan cuisine. The skin of unripe jackfruit must be peeled first, then the remaining whole jackfruit can be chopped into edible portions and cooked before serving. Young jackfruit has a mild flavor and distinctive meat-like texture and is compared to poultry. Meatless sandwiches have been suggested and are popular with both vegetarian and nonvegetarian populations. Unripe jackfruit is widely known as ''Panasa Katha'' in Odisha.

Cultural

The jackfruit is one of the three auspicious fruits of Tamil Nadu, along with the mango and banana, known as the ''mukkani'' . These are referred to as ''ma-pala-vaazhai'' . The three fruits are also related to the three arts of Tamil . Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh. It is also the state fruit of the Indian state of Kerala.