Jackfruit, Schmackfruit

One of my fave Thai fruits is jackfruit!! It's an odd, spikey, football-shaped mass that hangs from jackfruit trees. Some are so heavy and full of fruit, that peeps will construct creative support systems just to keep the thing from falling off the tree! Not only is it noted for its unique exterior, but inside is a bright yellow, strong smelling fruit. You've really gotta like it to be nose first into it cutting it up! (It's in the same family as durian.) You wouldn't believe me unless you tried it, but it really does taste like strawberries and banana!!!! I promise!



Well, my friend, Lah, has a bunch of jackfruit trees at her house. So, she wanted to share her jackfruit harvest with us! We gladly took it off her hands. She dropped it off on our porch and we came home to find it! I was so excited. But, I had to call her and tell her I had no idea what to do with it! She laughed and apologized and said she forgot about that part! The next morning, she came over and taught me how to cut it up and pull out the fruit! I needed newspaper, a big knife, and rubber gloves. Once we got into pulling the fruit out, it was the stickiest mess I'd ever seen! It was so sticky that after we cut everything up, the knife looked like glue had been dumped on it. I used some soybean oil to clean it off. Powerful sticky stuff!




After about an hour of cutting and pulling, it was rewarding to enjoy the fruits of my labor!