Recipe and Health Articles

What is Jackfruit

The jackfruit is a huge, spined, oval fruit that is believed to have been first cultivated in Indian rainforests. The exterior of the fruit is not edible, but the flesh and seeds are commonly eaten. When the fruit has turned from green to yellow, it is ready to be picked. Jackfruit tends to be an acquired taste and frequently does not appeal to those unfamiliar with it.

What are the uses of jackfruit?

The pulp of the young fruit is cooked as a vegetable, pickled or canned. Pulp of ripe fruit is eaten fresh or made into various local delicacies including chutney, jam, jelly, and paste, or preserved as candies by drying or mixing with sugar, honey or syrup. The pulp is also used to flavour ice cream and beverages, made into jackfruit honey, reduced to concentrate or powder, and used for preparing drinks. The seeds can be eaten boiled, roasted or dried and salted as table nuts, or they can be ground to make flour and blended with wheat flour for baking. Young leaves can be used as fodder for cattle and other live stock.

Benefits of Jackfruit

1.   Jackfruit is a very good source of potassium and good source of vitamin C.
2.   Potassium rich in jackfruit may help to regulate your blood pressure.
3.   Jackfruit contains lignans, isoflavones, saponins, that are called phytonutrients and their health benefits are wide-ranging from anti-cancer to antihypertensive, anti-ageing, antioxidant, anti-ulcer, etc.
4.   The jackfruit root is a remedy for skin diseases and asthma. An extract of the root is taken to cure fever and diarrhoea. Jackfruit provides a good supply of proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins.

Nutrition chart (Amount in 100 grams of edible portion)

ENERGY (kilocalories)    94
WATER (grams)            73.23
FAT (grams)                 0.3
PROTEIN (grams)         1.47
CARBOHYDRATES (grams)     24.01
FIBER (grams)             1.6

VITAMINS : Fat Soluble
Vitamin A (mcg-RAE)             15

Water Soluble
Vitamin C (mg)             6.7
Riboflavin (mg)             0.11
Pyridoxine(B6) (mg)      0.108

MINERALS(mg)
Calcium                 34
Iron                      0.6
Magnesium            37
Phosphorus            36
Potassium             303
Sodium                 3
Zinc                      0.42
Copper                 0.187
Manganese           0.197


The jackfruit is the shape of a large melon. The fruit has a grey skin, and contains a great number of pips or kernels which are about the size of a pigeon's egg. These, when roasted, taste like chestnuts. The fruit is yellow and succulent, of a sweet taste and powerful smell. Thais eat the yellow flesh alone, with ice cream or mixed with other fruits and coconut milk in a compote. The cooked seeds find their way into many dishes. We put almost every part of the jack fruit tree to use. The young jack fruit used in curries, the seed is also used up. Sometimes the seeds are sun dried and stored for the winter.