How the vegan food trend made a star of the stinking jackfruit
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
Wondering if that bit about "rotting onions" is wrong. I'm Indian and live in India, and while I haven't eaten jackfruit often, I have eaten it sometimes (the ripe sweet version), and never got a smell like that from it. I've even travelled for non-trivial periods through Tamil Nadu and Kerala states, where jackfruit is grown a lot, seen it growing on roadside trees, etc. It definitely has a strong smell, but it's just a strong sweet fruity smell, IIRC. Definitely can be an acquired taste, maybe more so for people from the West. But not bad, IMO.
Anyone else know better? or is the rotting onion smell they mention, from when it is not ripe yet, maybe? Because I've not seen/tasted it in that stage.
BTW, I've read elsewhere that it is supposed to be one of those wonder plants, which can help combat malnutrition, hunger, etc., if grown on a larger scale in the tropical (and subtropical?) countries where it can grow, and where there are sometimes food shortages, such as some parts of Asia and Africa.
Same goes for a few other plants/trees (in the sense of wonder plants, though not necessarily all for nutrition - some are for medical, construction or other uses, often multiple uses), like coconut, neem, bamboo, Moringa (drumstick tree), etc.
Edited for grammar.
Maybe they're confusing yaka with durian fruit?
Yes, I had the same thought about whether they confused jackfruit with durian (which AFAIK grows mainly in SE Asia). Never had it myself.
Two other fruits I think more Americans should try are guyaba/guava and guanabana. Both are somewhat annoying to eat due to the seeds, but they have some unique flavors. Those are my two go-to icecream flavors.
Unfortunately the lack of demand makes them expensive in the US where I was astounded. They almost give them away where I live in Mexico.
Same with dragon fruit. A single fruit was $8 in Texas. Meanwhile I get them from the pitaya guy who rolls down my street 4x for <$1.
Jackfruit has a mild, taste with a hint of banana and is odorless. Durian reeks like a trash heap but has a sweet and a little bit sour flavour with a hint of canned pears.
But their mass and weight sure set them apart! They grow so god damn big it's awe-inspiring to see them on trees along side of the road or beach. As if they are the cocoons of a giant jurassic-era butterfly.
Hard not to wonder how many small animals must have been obliterated by one falling from the tree.
But also how amazing it must have been for an early human or settler to find one in the wild. The amount of fruit you can harvest from one is incredible. Thankfully people would collect them, pluck out all the meat "nodes", and sell them in little bags of 4-6 nodules. I could never eat more than 4 nodules without rummaging for something else in the pantry, they're quite boring.
The last paragraph reminds me of novels like The Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe, which were fun reading while growing up.
BTW, the seeds of the jackfruit are also eaten, and are supposed to be nutritious, IIRC (part of that wonder plant stuff). Got a nutty taste. It's added to some curries in Indian cuisine, both North and South, I think. Had it a few times.
My mom and other elders warn me to eat small helpings because it can screw with digestion, but I'm not sure if that's true.
Jackfruit is a brilliant creation of nature
Like Joe's use to say: "Custard, good ... jam, good ... meat, GOOD!"
Durian, on the other hand, looks similar to someone who isn't familiar with both, and has more of that unappealing smell.
I'm honestly surprised that jackfruit isn't more popular. They grow fairly densely (several huge fruits on a single modest tree), are easy to cultivate, and are fairly tasty (though kind of sticky IIRC). If bananas go away (mass death among Cavendish bananas), I wouldn't be surprised to see canned jackfruit take over.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera
The pods are used in sambar in South Indian cuisine, and are pretty tasty. You have to eat only the inner pulp and seeds, not fibrous outer cover.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_(dish)
I've read the green leaves of Moringa are very nutritious too, though never had a chance to try them.
I'd have kept trying but I found out that Jackfruit seeds lose viability very fast. So, even if the right seeds were sent, they'd be duds in the 2-3 months it takes to get to me.
Wanted to see if it could be used commercially as a meat replacement in pies.
If I'm eating healthy I'd rather go for other more accessible fruit, veggies and legumes and if eating for meat taste instead would prefer Impossible, Beyond, Gardein and Hungry Planet etc.
One pet peeve of mine is locavores clamoring about emissions from transportation.
Food shipped overseas is not emissions intense at all. Huge tankers are __the__ most efficient means of transportation, emissions-wise. Pair efficient diesel with the physics of huge inertia over a frictionless medium, and gigantic economies of scale.
Usually, growing tomatoes in a greenhouse in Vermont is __more__ emissions intense than shipping them from Chile.
As for the matter of emissions, that's a complex issue. In the specific case of heated greenhouses, one must consider the source of the power being used to heat the greenhouse. Not all power is made equal when it comes to emissions. Some places burn coal, others use hydro (clean, but damming rivers causes habitat loss), others use renewables (great) or nuclear (clean and controversial.)
Frankly though food related emissions are going to be a small portion of all global emissions. What concerns me more is habitat loss caused by agriculture, and whether or not the region I'm getting food from has effective regulation in place concerning that (and if not, whether I have any chance of influencing the government in that region.)
It bothers me when a fundamentally nonviolent movement is maligned as wasteful, inefficient, or dangerous.
Raw, it is slightly sweet and generally mild in flavor (with a nice texture, imo).
Cooked, it can be torn into strips that is very texturally similar to chicken or pulled pork.
(And while I didn't like jackfruit on initial exposure, I quickly grew to enjoy it - not like Thailand's other stinking fruit, the durian, which some people really love but I detest...)
Jackfruit can be used to make jam, dried chips, curries and a bunch of other things that my limited vocabulary restricts me from mentioning. Ofcourse ripe jack fruit is delicious by itself.
To top this, the seed of jackfruit is also used for preparing varios curries. This fruit has a potential that is yet to be tapped to its fullest.
This is so charming. Reminds me of Japanese small prefectures and cities and their local mascots and specialties.
A piece of bread and some pineapple would be fine for lunch I think. It would be weird because we don’t think of that combination of foods as a typical sandwich.
Pineapple has a much different flavor profile than jackfruit. Jackfruit is a bit of a blank slate, and has a texture that is the right mix of meaty and tender. Pineapple is very sour and juicy, it’s completely different food.
We think nothing of cucumber sandwiches, tomato sandwiches, eggplant sandwiches, various bean products (tofu, black bean, falafel).
I think you’re playing on the (gustatorily) incongruent nature of a ‘pineapple sandwich’ and conflating that emotion with the relative nutritional qualities that would comprise a ‘pineapple sandwich’ (probably not far off a cucumber sandwich with quince paste).
I really wouldn’t worry about one of the most obese countries in the entire world lacking for calories and protein.
I don’t really like jackfruit, but I can tell you that I don’t look for meat-equivalent nutrition really. I do seek to eat a healthy balanced diet, but removing meat and dairy means changing the rest of your diet to ensure your body gets all that it needs. If you were to go vegan by replacing meat with meat substitutes, you would not be a happy vegan. However the substitutes can be nice. Yesterday I got a beyond burger at Carl’s Jr. The meal had nothing to do with nutrition, but was about a longing for junk food I have missed.
There’s lots of reasons to eat jackfruit and I believe most vegans are clear that jackfruit cannot simply replace pork to make a healthy vegan diet.
yes
> Looking at the “pulled pork” bun on the webpage made me think, would you still feel like this is just fine for lunch if it was slices of pineapple instead inside?
yes, that sounds like a way better lunch than pulled pork. I am not vegetarian and I am very active but I don't feel the need to eat meat more than once or twice a week. And even then that's only because I like its taste, afaik there is nothing in meat or dairy you can't find somewhere else.
Meanwhile, our foods are fortified with things like calcium and vitamin D because people otherwise don't get enough. In a nation where we all certainly eat enough. Maybe it's indeed time to drop the idea that we don't have to think about what we eat.
In my experience, most find a source of protein quickly (tofu, tempeh, peanut butter, chickpeas, quinoa).
But some end up with iron deficiency and may need to take supplements. (Broccoli looks like a comparable source by weight -- 1.1mg per 148g, versus 2.2mg per 85g of beef. But 85g of beef is roughly 3/4 cup by volume, whereas to get the ~300g of broccoli for the same 2.2 mg of iron, you need to eat two stalks or three cups by volume.)
If you cook it, then your 300g spinach reduces to something like one and a half cups, but you have to be careful to not lose water-soluble iron to your cooking method. Also, you have to like the texture of wilted spinach.
If you're used to eating half-cup sides of spinach, making spinach your primary iron source is a fairly major change to how you eat.