Intoduction to Jackfruit- “Kahatul”

Jackfruit are common in markets from May to September. For some reason I passed it up until I was in a position to harvest it myself. I believe the proper method of harvest is as follows:

-First, tie a rock to a rope and throw it into the tree precisely over a fruit.
-Hand the rope to room-mate and encourage him to move around and tug at the rope until the huge 1 inch diameter stem breaks.  
-Lurch forward to catch the jackfruit
-Reconsider the wisdom of running underneath a spikey 25 pound object falling 30 feet from a tree.
-Next, at least break the fruit’s fall as to limit damage. Because who has practice doing this sort of thing?

A large fruit contains roughly 75 fleshy pods. When fully ripe the flesh tastes sweet like the ripest strawberry imaginable without being rotten and a consistency between custard and a slimy banana (depends on your outlook). It can also be cooked as a vegetable before it’s ripe. Some say it can be seasoned to taste like meat. Although I’d welcome the chance to see that done, my experience with the unripe jackfruit tasted like a firm sweet potato.

Culture point: It is rare for South Asians to choose to eat this fruit in the ripe stage. They sure love their pan fried and spiced vegetables. That’s just dandy until you pull down 25 pounds of sweet ripe jackfruit and your local friends struggle to find a polite way to say, “Well, good luck eating that yourself”