Jackfruit – from garden to plate #5

Jackfruit, Durians marginally less putrid younger brother. One of the largest fruits ever it is difficult to handle, spiky on the outside and sappy between the lobes of fragrant flesh. But the hard work is worth it, when after peeling away the pith you are rewarded with easy to deal with pods of jackfruit, delicious, intriguing, complex. Popular throughout Asia, but not often seen in Australia, jackfruit is eaten raw, mixed into iced desserts, baked into cakes and the cooked flesh of the young fruit is used in savoury dishes.

Jackfruit vendor in Hanoi, Vietnam

I happened to be on the farm at the right moment for the jackfruit, I’m not sure if I even knew that we had a Jackfruit tree previously. It is in a little orchard of random tropical trees, an ice cream bean, bananas, a few natives and more, flanked on one end by a fence inundated with native Atherton raspberries. The bunch of ripe fruit pictured above was quite a ways off the ground, inaccessible, that is until my Dad climbed the tree. In work boots. I stood on the ground whimpering at the thought of him falling, and took some very unflattering photographs, that isn’t a good angle for anyone, let alone someone wearing king gee’s. Once the cut fruit had been dropped back to sea level with a resounding thud a thick and stick white sap starts to leak from the wound, I know its enticing like caramelising sugar, but don’t touch it, just.. don’t.

Dad made his way down from the tree without incident, of course.

The flesh of this fruit was very soft, much riper than other versions I’ve tasted, and took on an almost bubble gum quality and flavour. It was quite delicious in a sickly-sweet kind of way, the variety and over-ripeness removing any Durian-like pungency. To be honest I prefer it firmer with a satisfying crunch and mixed into shaved ice desserts, sweet soups or fruit salad.

The enormity of a jackfruit means that even die-hard fans will probably tire of it by the time it is half eaten. It makes more sense to buy them freshly cleaned and packaged as I’ve seen during the season across South East Asia, it is a much more manageable portion size. We gave some of the crop away, though I realise now that young and unripe jackfruit are different things – the young fruit can be peeled and the whole lot cooked into a curry. Despite generosity there was a lot of fruit leftover, I cleaned it with much less precision than the lady pictured above, and searched the bare shelves transformative ingredients.

Young Jackfruit.

Coconut cream, sugar and eggs was all it took to create this wobbly steamed jackfruit custard. Creamy, sweet and wholly satisfying this is a great dessert to try if you happen to have excess fruit laying around. I made this on the farm, which means ‘making do’. It was steamed at a lower temperature than required causing the mixture to separate into layers, and my below-standard coconut cream was certainly detrimental to the outcome. Imagine how delicious it would be when made with fresh coconut cream and firmer jackfruit slivers.

This is the first time I’ve experimented cooking this monumental fruit, but hopefully not the last, tips, ideas and recipes gratefully appreciated.

Jackfruit Custard
sangkaya kanun
adapted from Thai Food by David Thompson – I omitted the jackfruit seeds.

2 1/4 cups shelled raw eggs, preferably duck, about 12
1 1/2 cups thick coconut cream
2 cups palm sugar – I had none on hand so used strongly flavoured cane sugar instead
1/2 cup ripe jackfruit flesh – I used more like 1 cup as I had oodles on hand.

Combine eggs, sugar and coconut cream and mix until well combined but not fluffy. Strain, skin off any froth and rest for a few minutes. Skim one more time then stir in jackfruit flesh. Pour into a mould and stir lightly. Cover with paper and steam over high heat for 15 minutes, then for lower the heat and steam for another 30 minutes or until firm. Cool before serving.