Growing Jackfruits

GROW YOUR OWN JACK FRUIT

The jack fruit is truly a unique fruit not only in terms of its prickly looks, size and weight but also its taste and texture, and therefore it is considered to be an exotic fruit. Botanically it is known as (artocarpus heterophyllus). Besides eating jack fruit in its ripe, fresh form, many people cook the raw jack fruit as a vegetable, use it in curries and pickles too. Even the seeds of the jack fruit are eaten in its cooked form. Jack fruit is mainly cultivated in tropical or close to tropical climates. Seeds are usually the method of propagating trees for production.  So it would be great fun to grow the world's largest fruit in your kitchen garden if the climatic conditions are favorable enough!

Planting And Growing

Propagation: Propagation is usually by seeds, which can be kept no longer than a month before planting. Germination requires 3 to 8 weeks. The seedlings should be moved when no more than 4 leaves have appeared. A more advanced seedling, with its long and delicate tap root is very difficult to transplant successfully. Cutting-grown plants and grafted seedlings are possible.

Obtain a fresh seed: You can sometimes purchase pieces of jack fruit at Asian markets. Even though the seeds are LARGE (3" long) a small piece of fruit has seven seeds in it.

• Take the fresh seeds and place in a container filled 3/4 with a mixture of seed starting mix and sand. Cover the rest of the seed with the mix. Water thoroughly. Even cracked seeds will sprout if they are otherwise intact. Of my eight seeds, two were cracked, and all eight are growing into plants. 
• Jack fruit seeds can be sprouted in the spring and immediately exposed to dappled sunlight. They prefer strong light while growing, so move them into a sunny window or outside on a patio deck. They are highly susceptible to cold weather, especially early in their lives, and cannot tolerate frost or freezing weather. 
• Jack fruit have a long and delicate tap root, which makes re-potting difficult. It's best to avoid re-potting young jack fruit if it's not necessary, so ideally you can grow them in the same pot you sprouted them in for the first season. Assuming your plant makes it through the winter, you can re-pot in the spring again, stepping up one or two pot sizes. When re-potting, be careful not to disturb the roots of young plants. 
• Jack fruit can go outside for the summer months. The jack fruit flourishes in rich, deep soil of medium or open texture. Planting on top of an old compost heap would be ideal. The faster one can force a tropical plant to grow, the better the chance of keeping it alive. The tree needs the best drainage and cannot tolerate "wet feet". 
• The tree will not tolerate drought. Water frequently during warm months and warm periods in cooler months. Less water is necessary during colder weather. 
• Feed weekly with a weak liquid fertilizer. They are not particularly heavy feeders, but especially seedlings and younger plants thrive with regular applications of fertilizer. 
• Under good conditions, young trees grow quickly, and if you manage to survive the winters, you could have a nice-sized foyer tree within a few years. 
• Jack fruit trees are monoecious, having both male and female inflorescence's on the same tree. These inflorescence are called "Spikes".
• If you're very lucky, your tree might even make it to setting fruit. 

Harvesting And Storage

• Jack fruits mature 3 to 8 months from flowering. 
• Jack fruit may be eaten as a vegetable when picked at an immature stage, or eaten fresh when picked at a mature stage and allowed to ripen. Immature fruit is usually 1 to 3 months old, green and may be harvested for cooking.
• When mature, there is usually a change of fruit color from light green to yellow-brown. Spines, closely spaced, yield to moderate pressure, and there is a dull, hollow sound when the fruit is tapped. 
• After ripening, they turn brown and deteriorate rather quickly. Cold storage trials indicate that ripe fruits can be kept for 3 to 6 weeks at 52° to 55° F and relative humidity of 85% to 95%. Immature fruit is boiled, fried, or roasted. 
• Chunks are cooked in lightly salted water until tender and then served. The only handicap is copious gummy latex which accumulates on utensils and hands unless they are first rubbed with cooking oil. The seeds can also be boiled or roasted and eaten similar to chestnuts.

Few Health Benefits Of Jack Fruit

• Immunity: Jack fruit contains an excellent source of Vitamin C. With a high amount of Vitamin C, antioxidants it increases immune system function.
• Eye Health: Jack fruit contains Vitamin A, an important nutrient for eye health. It increases eye vision and protect from free radicals.
• Bone Health: Jack fruit contains high amount of calcium which strengthens and promotes healthy bone.
• Anemia: Jack fruit contains vitamins like Vitamin A, C, E, K, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid, Vitamin B6 and minerals like copper, manganese and magnesium which are important for blood formation.
• Protect from Cancer: Jack fruit is a rich source of antioxidants, phytonutrients and flavonoid that make it highly beneficial to protect from cancer.

Jack fruit Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup canned or mashed jack fruit pulp
• All Purpose Flour - 2 Cups
• Baking Powder - 1 Tbsp
• Eggs - 2
• Oil - 1/2 Cup
• Sugar - 4 Tbsps
• Milk - 1 Cup
• Honey - 1 Tbsp
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Vanilla Extract - 1 Tsp

Cooking method

• Whisk together egg, milk, oil, honey and vanilla extract, till well blended. 
• Add the jack fruit pulp to the egg mixture and mix well. Shift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a bowl. 
• Add the egg and jack fruit mixture to the flour and mix only till the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix. 
• Immediately fill muffin pans or muffin cup liners, till they are 1/2 or 2/3 full. Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degree Fahrenheit, for about 20 to 23 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 
• Let it cool for sometime and then serve and Enjoy!
• Please note that this recipe produces mildly sweet muffins. If you need sweeter ones, use a simple sugar glaze on top or sprinkle a little sugar while the muffins are hot.