Fried Breadfruit
Archive post. Original post: 8/4/15
Wow! I finally found breadfruit and can make Fried Breadfruit. So excited to write this post! I wanted to make a dish with breadfruit for a long time, and finally, my wish came true. It is a challenge to find specific ingredients when you are living in a non-Caribbean cultural environment.
The last time I saw breadfruit was last year during my visit to one of the Caribbean Islands. To my surprise, I was told that it was imported from Haiti. Go Haiti!
It can be a challenge to find many ingredients used in Caribbean cooking. There aren’t that many substitutions. Because of such difficulty, people have resorted to exploring other cultural types of food. It is an excellent way to adapt, but sometimes you want to go back to your roots and be happy for a short period. That is when a trip to a Caribbean cultural populated area once a month is worth it if you can travel.
BreadfruitBreadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands. It is also grown in the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands of the Caribbean and Africa. Its name is derived from the texture of the cooked moderately ripe fruit, which has a potato-like flavor, similar to freshly baked bread. Breadfruit is a staple food in many tropical regions. It is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more grapefruit-sized fruits per season. In the South Pacific, the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year. In southern India, average production is 150 to 200 fruits annually. Productivity varies between wet and dry areas. In the Caribbean, a conservative estimate is 25 fruits per tree. Studies in Barbados indicate a reasonable potential of 6.7 to 13.4 tons per acre (16-32 tons/ha). The ovoid fruit has a rough surface, and each fruit is divided into many achenes, each achene surrounded by a fleshy perianth and growing on a fleshy receptacle. Most selectively bred cultivars have seedless fruit.
Breadfruits are very rich in starch, and before being eaten, they are roasted, baked, fried or boiled. When cooked, the taste of moderately ripe breadfruit is described as potato-like, or similar to freshly baked bread. Very ripe breadfruit becomes sweet, as the starch converts to sugar.One Breadfruit is roughly 25% carbohydrates and 70% water. It has an average amount of vitamin C (20 mg/100 g), small amounts of minerals (potassium and zinc) and thiamin (100 ?g/100 g) (Wikipedia, 2014)
There are many ways to cook breadfruit. Both ripe and unripe fruits have culinary uses, but unripe breadfruit is consumed cooked. In Haiti, it is usually served as a side dish or as an appetizer.
Breadfruits are also prepared with meat or seafood as a complete meal Breadfruits are usually fried or boiled. Experiment with your palette! This is a dish you won’t regret making. Great snack for kids as well. Just one breadfruit, salt, and oil are needed for the recipe.
Enjoy!
Fried Breadfruit
Ingredients
- 1 Breadfruit
- Oil for frying
- Salt to sprinkle - optional
Instructions
- Remove the skin of the breadfruit and remove the center part. Cut lengthwise or in cubes. Fry in hot oil until fully cooked and until the pieces turn golden brown. Sprinkle salt before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
