Food Value per 100g of Edible Portion

Note: The pulp constitutes 25-40% of the fruit's weight.

Nutritive Components

Food Uses: Jackfruits (known as poor man's fruit in India) are eaten unripe at 25-50% full size as a vegetable or ripe as a fruit. Tender young fruits may be pickled with or without spices. The chunks of unripe fruit including the seeds are boiled in lightly salted water until tender and served as a vegetable. The flesh of the unripe fruit has also been canned in brine or with curry.The canned product is more attractive than the fresh pulp and is sometimes called "vegetable meat".

The ripe bulbs may be eaten raw or cooked (with coconut milk or otherwise); or made into ice cream, candied, chutney, jam, jelly, paste, "leather" or papad, or canned in sirup made with sugar or honey with citric acid added. By a method patented in India, the ripe bulbs may be dried, fried in oil and salted for eating like potato chips. Improved methods of preserving and candying jackfruit pulp have been devised at the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, India and this product can be kept in tins for a year without spoilage.

If the bulbs are boiled in milk, the latter when drained off and cooled will congeal and form pleasant, orange colored custard. Ripe bulbs, sliced and packed in sirup with added citric acid, and frozen, retain good color, flavor and texture for one year. Canned jackfruit retains quality for 63 weeks at room temperature-75° to 80°F (23.89°-26.67°C), with only 3% loss of B-carotene. The crisp types of jackfruit are preferred for canning.

Bangladeshis feasting the fresh ripe jackfruit		Jackfruit fries

The ripe bulbs are mechanically pulped to make jackfruit nectar or reduced to concentrate or powder. The addition of synthetic flavoring-ethyl and  n-butyl esters of 4-hydroxybutyric acid at 120ppm and 100ppm, respectively greatly improves the flavor of the canned fruit and the nectar. When frozen, the canned pulp keeps well for 2 years.

In Southeast Asia dried slices of unripe jackfruit are sold in native markets in Thailand. In Malaysia, where the odor of the ripe fruit is not avoided, small jackfruits are cut in half, seeded, chilled, and brought to the table filled with ice cream. The ripe bulbs, fermented and then distilled, produce potent liquor.

The seeds, which appeal to all tastes, may be boiled or roasted or dried and salted as table nuts, or they can be ground to make flour and blended with wheat flour for baking, or boiled and preserved in sirup like chestnuts. They have also been successfully canned in brine, in curry, and, like baked beans, in tomato sauce. They are often included in curried dishes. Roasted, dried seeds are ground to make flour which is blended with wheat flour for baking. In general, fresh seeds are considered to be high in starch, low in calcium and iron; good sources of vitamins B1 and B2.

Toxicity: Even in India there is some resistance to the jackfruit, attributed to the belief that overindulgence in it causes digestive ailments. Raw and unripe fruit is astringent and indigestible. The ripe fruit is somewhat laxative; if eaten in excess it will cause diarrhea. Raw jackfruit seeds are indigestible due to the presence of a powerful trypsin inhibitor. However, this chemical element can be destroyed by boiling or baking.

Other Uses

i) Fruit: In some areas, the jackfruit is fed to cattle. The tree is even planted in pastures so that the animals can avail themselves of the fallen fruits. Surplus jackfruit rind is considered a good stock food.

Feeding goats (left) and cows (right) with surplus jackfruits

ii) Leaves: Tender jackfruit leaves and young male flower clusters may be cooked and served as vegetables. Young leaves are readily eaten by cattle and other livestock and are said to be fattening. In India, the leaves are used as food wrappers in cooking, and they are also fastened together for use as plates. Fallen leaves and pruned twigs and branches can be used as household fuel .

Food wrappers in cooking		Goats feeding on jackfruit leaves

iii) Latex: The latex serves as birdlime, alone or mixed with Ficus sap and oil from Schleichera trijuga Willd. The latex which flows from all parts of the plant when injured is also used as adhesive. The resins within the latex may also have some value in varnishes. The heated latex is employed as household cement for mending chinaware and earthenware, and to caulk boats and holes in buckets. The chemical constituent of the latex is not a substitue for rubber but contains 82.6 to 86.4% resins which may have value in varnishes. Its bacteriolytic activity is equal to that of papaya latex.

White latex oozing out from the central core of the jackfruit

iv) Wood: Jackwood is an important timber in Ceylon and, to a lesser extent, in India; some is exported to Europe. The timber is a medium hardwood with desirable characteristics in making furniture, oars, implements and musical instruments and the wood is also used in construction. It is termite proof and fairly resistant to fungal and bacterial decay. It changes with age from orange or yellow to brown or dark-red; is termite proof, fairly resistant to fungal and bacterial decay, seasons without difficulty, resembles mahogany and is superior to teak for furniture, construction, turnery, masts, oars, implements, brush backs and musical instruments. Palaces were built of jackwood in Bali and Macassar, and the limited supply was once reserved for temples in Indochina. Its strength is 75 to 80% that of teak. Though sharp tools are needed to achieve a smooth surface, it polishes beautifully. Roots of old trees are greatly prized for carving and picture framing. Dried branches are employed to produce fire by friction in religious ceremonies in Malabar. The timber is exported from Sri Lanka and India to Europe.

Jackfruit plantation for timber and fruits		Jackfruit plywood

Bowl made from jackfruit wood		Woodcraft from jackfruit timber

v) Dye: A yellow dye can also be extracted from the wood particles and used to dye cotton. From the sawdust of jackwood or chips of the heartwood, boiled with alum, there is derived a rich yellow dye commonly used for dyeing silk and the cotton robes of Buddhist priests. In Indonesia, splinters of the wood are put into the bamboo tubes collecting coconut toddy in order to impart a yellow tone to the sugar. Besides the yellow colorant, morin, the wood also contains the colorless cyanomaclurin and a new yellow coloring matter, artocarpin.

vi) Bark: There is only 3.3% tannin in the bark which is occasionally made into cordage or cloth.

vii) Medicinal Uses: The Chinese consider jackfruit pulp and seeds tonic, cooling and nutritious, and to be "useful in overcoming the influence of alcohol on the system." The seed starch is given to relieve biliousness and the roasted seeds are regarded as aphrodisiac. The ash of jackfruit leaves, burned with corn and coconut shells, is used alone or mixed with coconut oil to heal ulcers. Crushed inflorescence is used to reduce bleeding in open wounds. The dried latex yields artostenone, convertible to artosterone, a compound with marked androgenic action. Mixed with vinegar, the latex promotes healing of abscesses, snakebite and glandular swellings. The root is a remedy for skin diseases and asthma. An extract of the root is taken in cases of fever and diarrhea. The bark is made into poultices. Heated leaves are placed on wounds. An extract of roots is used in treating skin diseases, asthma and diarrhoea. An extract from leaves and latex treats asthma, prevents ringworm infestation, and heals cracking of the feet. An infusion of mature leaves and bark is used to treat diabetes and gall stones. A tea made with dried and powdered leaves is taken to relieve asthma. Heated leaves can treat wounds, abscesses and ear problems, and relieve pain

The wood has a sedative property; its pith is said to produce abortion. Ripe fruits can be used as a laxative.

viii) Ecological and environmental value: The jackfruit canopy provides perennial cover to the soil, acting as a shade tree and absorbing the impact of rain on the soil. Soil fertility is improved if fallen leaves are allowed to rot and incorporated in to the soil. Weed growth is reduced when leaf mulches are used. The action of roots particularly taproots growing into soil benefits soil structure by reducing compaction, and facilitates soil conservation. The tree can reduce the effects of wind planted around a homestead.

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