My love affair with Jackfruit

Where do I begin? My love affair with jackfruit (known as chakka in Malayalam) has been going on since I moved to India for higher secondary education. I spent my summer holidays with my uncle and aunt who have a beautiful orchard with different varieties of jackfruit trees. Since then, I have had jackfruit in different forms and shapes: cooked, steamed, caramelised, raw to name a few.

Jackfruit is one fruit that can be utilised to its fullest. Its flesh can be used to make chips, halwa or porridge. Its seeds can be used to make nutritious curries. The ways in which jackfruit is utilised varies as it grows through the maturation cycle. Jackfruit is rich in macro and micro nutrients and fibre. It is a good source of vitamin C and potassium.

Unripe jackfruit flesh is used to make jackfruit chips and porridge. Jackfruit porridge is very common in most households during summer and is known by different names in different parts of Kerala. We call it chakka vevichadh (translates to cooked jackfruit). It tastes like heaven with the traditional Travancore fish curry.

Jackfruit chips are an equally delicious snack made from the unripe flesh of jackfruit during summer, when jackfruit is aplenty. It is a day long labour where the entire family comes together, trust me, you need all the help you can get. My uncle is in charge of plucking the jackfruit from the tree and slicing it open. My aunt and I peel the flesh out and cut the flesh into thin long pieces. It is then fried in coconut oil. Gorging on yummy, crispy chips as you make them is the best part of it.

Jackfruit halwa is a delicacy which, unfortunately, is not made in most households. It is a long and tedious, but satisfying process. The jackfruit is slow cooked with clarified butter and spices by stirring constantly. The end product is the most sought after jackfruit dish of all. The last remaining slice of halwa has been the source of many disputes in many families in Kerala; much blackmailing has been done to get that final bite.

The summers I spent in Kerala are interlaced with the experiences I have had with traditional food and jackfruit. The lingering taste and memories make me want to go back for one last bite of everything jackfruit.