The jakfruits that you order from our growers will be ready to finish ripening in your home, or will be at the correct stage to be used for your vegetable dishes.

In the market, choose a jakfruit that is greenish–yellow in color, the bumps on the rind are almost flattened out, and has a slight fragrance to it.

If you are selecting an unripe fruit to be used as a vegetable, it will be sold as a jackfruit that will be used for cooking. The bumps on the outside will be very close together and pointy.

Ripening

Keep the jackfruit on the counter at room temperature until the fruit has become soft and it gives a little. The key ripening clue will be its fragrance. Ripe jakfruits will be very fragrant!

The jakfruits sold for cooking will be ready to go right into your fry pan or pot when you bring them home!

Handling

Before you open your ripe jackfruit, have some vegetable oil on hand, and maybe a pair of disposable gloves, as jakfruits have varying amounts of latex in the pith that can stick to your knife and/or hands. Use a paper towel with a bit of cooking oil on it to clean the knife before you cut, and either rub a light coat of oil on your hands beforehand, or use gloves to keep your hands from getting sticky. The latex is not harmful. The latex is not found in unripe jakfruits used for cooking.

To open ripe jakfruits, slice the fruits in half either across the middle or from the stem end to the bottom. Inside you will see a pithy core running down the middle, just like an ear of corn. Around this core will be the seeds all pointing to the core, again, just like a corn cob. Around each of the seeds will be the sweet flesh, the aril, that you are after! Either with a knife or with your hands, pull out a bulb, and remove the flesh from around the seed. This is the part that is eaten fresh, either right now(!), or used in your recipes.

Don’t toss out the seeds, as you can roast these for a wonderful treat!

To open an unripe jackfruit, hold the jackfruit upright, and with your knife, slice off the bumpy outer rind, just like you would cut the outer peel from a pineapple. Everything that you have left is edible – even the seeds that have not yet developed. The texture of the jackfruit at this time is similar to a zucchini, and you can use the jackfruit at this stage like you would a zucchini or a potato.

Storage

Once you jackfruit has ripened on the counter and is ready to cut open, you can store the unopened jackfruit in the refrigerator for several days. Cover it in plastic to prevent any drying out while it is in the low humidity conditions in the refrigerator. It should keep like this for at least a week. Once it is open, cover the sliced fruit with plastic and leave the fruit intact, or remove the fruit bulbs and seeds from the pith, and keep those in a plastic bag or container. These will keep around a week. The bulbs will also freeze very well in a ziplock bag for about a year.

Counts and Weights

Jakfruits can weigh up to 100 lbs, but can also weigh under 5 lbs., so they are quite variable.

For ripe jackfruit, you will loose about half the weight in waste consisting of the outer, bumpy rind and the inner connective tissue, called rag. The remainder, the edible portion, will be seeds and flesh.

For unripe jackfruit, you will loose about 10-20 % of it's weight, from the outer rind.

Nutrition

Jakfruit are not only a delicious fruit, they also are a good choice for the health conscious eater. One cup of ripe jackfruit pulp weighs 165 g, and has:

155 calories,

0g fat

3 g fiber

2 g protein

14% Potassium (500 mg)

10% of Vitamin A (490 IU)

18% Vitamin C (11 mg)

14% Potassium (500 mg)

and 9% Vitamin B6 (.2 mg)

Recipes

Jakfruits are a very versatile fruit, as just about the entire fruit is edible at one stage or another. The ripe bulbs make an exciting addition to fruit salads, and desserts. The seeds can be used as a vegetable side dish, and the unripened jackfruit acts as a vegetable for your dishes. A common dish in India is jakfruit slices, grated coconut, honey, and banana slices mixed together.

Try these recipes below.