Breadfruit: Taste, Uses, and Cooking Methods
Hello Darlings, today we will explore breadfruit, a Caribbean essential and a staple to various ethnic cuisines. While I have eaten it before, my experience in cooking with it is limited, so today I will walk you through the step from choosing the right breadfruit to the most straightforward method of preparing it.
Your first step is to find a nearby Indian store or farmers market, as they often carry breadfruit. Although I would recommend calling ahead to ensure availability. Now I know your first question before we start will be about its flavor, and I will answer it by saying it’s a mix of yellow potatoes and cassava boiled.
Now that that’s out of the way, I will show you the simplest method to cook this, so you can appreciate it in its purest form, before branching out. The first step is selecting a quality breadfruit, which can be challenging as they are often sealed in damp paper and bagged. Start by making sure that the breadfruit is mostly green with minimal brown spots. (Unfortunately, mine was quite brown, and only half was usable.)
Next, squeeze it hard all over to check for any soft spots or give; you want to avoid these as they can lead to a fruit that smells and tastes quite nauseating. Once you've confirmed its firmness and inspected it thoroughly, you're ready to purchase it and go.
Brilliant you’ve done so good so far, now gather your ingredients. Most will be done to taste as this is less a recipe and more of tasting of an ingredient and understanding the ways you can use it.
1 Medium Breadfruit
Half a lemon
2 Tablespoons of salt
2 Tablespoons of oil
Creole Seasoning to taste
Your first step is to thoroughly wash and scrub your breadfruit with soap, as you'll be cutting through the skin and want to avoid transferring bacteria. Next, cut off the top where the stem was and the bottom end. Once your fruit is clean and the ends are removed, slice it into 1-inch disks. A ripe breadfruit should be cream-colored with a unique, light, spongy texture, featuring peculiar small holes in the center and no brown discoloration spots. Then, using a sharp knife, carefully remove the thick skin.
Place the jackfruit in a pot of salty water. I prefer to boil them whole for cultural reasons, but you can chop them if you like. Due to their spongy texture, they tend to float, so I use a lid to keep them submerged and let them steam. Unfortunately, hindsight is 20-20 and this does cause the pot to overflow. To prevent turning your stove into a marsh, use a pot twice the size of the jackfruit amount.
Boil for about 20 minutes, then test for doneness like a potato by inserting a fork. It's ready when it turns a richer yellow color (see photo), and the fork goes in easily without causing the fruit to mush. Important note, if there is a lot of weird brown scum on top that means your breadfruit was sadly bad and you need to toss the whole thing.
Once you are sure it is cooked, remove it from the heat and pot, place it on your chopping board, and carefully cut it into 1-inch squares. Breadfruit has a hard center, as observed in the boiling photo, which you should remove as you cube it. The cubes don't need to be perfect, so there's no need to worry about that. Do try to keep them close to the same size though.
Finally, toss the cubes into a well-oiled pan along with your spices and lemon juice. Cook until they are nicely browned on at least one side, then serve and savor the simple yet elegant flavor of the breadfruit.
In the end, I would say the cooking time is well worth the joy derived from eating this dish. It's quick, simple, and enjoyable. Breadfruit is an oddly satisfying ingredient that, on its own, possesses a perfect buttery potato flavor. The cubes near the center absorb the flavorful cooking liquid, creating a moist and flavorful spongy burst in your mouth. Like potatoes, breadfruit is incredibly versatile.
In fact, in most recipes where you'd use potatoes, breadfruit can be substituted by simply adjusting the added ingredients and cooking time. Based on my experiences, here are some yummy ways to try the versatility: mashed breadfruit with cultured vegan butter and 'Slap Ya Mama' seasoning, adding the cubes to any curry, creating breadfruit chips, enjoying it plain and boiled, frying it, or making a soup by following a potato soup recipe and replacing the potatoes with breadfruit. The possibilities are endless, and you can adapt this ingredient into your favorite recipes in numerous ways. However, I wouldn't recommend it for making shepherd’s pie.
Hopefully you got to this point and are excited about going out and picking up your own breadfruit as this is the season for them. Live long and dine splendidly. Until we meet again, darlings.
