BREADFRUITFamily : Moraceae

Scientist name : Artocarpus altilisOther names : Fruit à pain, fruta de pan

Where Does It Come From?

The Breadruit is an exotic fruit growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands.Breadfruit is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more fruits per season. Productivity varies between wet and dry areas. In the Caribbean, a conservative estimate is 25 fruits per tree.The breadfruit tree is fast growing, reaching 26 metres high often with a clear trunk to 6 metres. There are many spreading branches, some thick with lateral foliage-bearing branchlets.

What Does It Look Like?

• The grapefruit-sized, ovoid fruit has a rough surface, and each fruit is divided into many achene, each achene surrounded by a fleshy perianth and growing on a fleshy receptacle. The fruit stalk (pedicel) varies from 1 to 5 in (2.5-12.5 cm) long.

• In the green stage, the fruit is hard and the interior is white, starchy.

When fully ripe, the fruit is soft, the interior is cream, yellow or pasty coloured.The seeds are irregularly oval, rounded at one end, pointed at the other, about 2 cm long dull-brown with darker stripes. In the centre of seedless fruits there is a cylindrical or oblong core, in some types covered with hairs bearing flat, brown.

How To Use It?

• Breadfruit is a staple food in many tropical regions. When cooked, the taste of moderately ripe breadfruit is described as potato-like, or similar to fresh-baked bread. Very ripe breadfruit becomes sweet, as the starch converts to sugar.

• Breadfruit is very rich in starch, and before being eaten, it is roasted, baked, fried or boiled

• A common product is a mixture of cooked or fermented breadfruit mash mixed with coconut milk and baked in banana leaves. Whole fruits can be cooked in an open fire, then cored and filled with other foods, such as coconut milk, sugar and butter, cooked meats, or other fruits.

What Are Breadfruit’s Benefits?

• Breadfruit is roughly 25% carbohydrates and 70% water. It has an average amount of vitamin C, small amounts of minerals (potassium and zinc) and thiamin.

• Breadfruit was widely and diversely used among Pacific Islanders. Its lightweight wood is resistant to termites and shipworms.

• It is also used in traditional medicine to treat illnesses that range from sore eyes to sciatica.

• Its wood pulp can also be used to make paper, called breadfruit tapa.