Jackfruit of Sindh - Jun 2021

The jackfruit (Kathal in Urdu) is not your typical fruit. It's got a distinctive, musky smell, and a flavor that some describe as like Juicy Fruit gum. It is the largest tree fruit in the world, capable of reaching 50 kg & trunks can reach a height of 50ft.
Jackfruit is called kathal in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well as two states of India (Tamil Nado and Kerala). It can be grown in most parts of Pakistan however at present it is grown in Sindh & Punjab.
Jackfruits can be dried, roasted, added to soups, used in chips, jams, juices, ice cream. The seeds can be boiled, roasted or ground into flour. Even the tree itself is valuable: high-quality, rot-resistant timber for furniture and musical instruments.
It belongs to the family Moraceae and is indigenous to China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. When green, it is a prized vegetable in many Asian and other countries in the West. It is cultivated throughout India, Bangladesh, the East Indies, the Philippines, Thailand.
The tree takes long to fruit. Indigenous varieties take 10-14 years to bear fruit, while the improved ones 4-5 years. The tree can live for 150 years and a grown tree can bear somewhere between 50 to 150 fruits at a time.
The fruit is globe or cylindrical in shape and each fruit weigh between 4-20kg. A single fruit may contain 100-500 edible seeds and a seed is 2-4cm long, 1-2cm thick and the inner endosperms become very crispy on roasting or boiling.
Jackfruit is often called as the meat of the vegetarians because the flesh of the green fruit is made up of elongated fibre tissues like meat. The fruit on ripening turns yellow and extremely sweet. Tender leaves and seeds are cooked in India and Pakistan.
The canned pulp retains its quality for several months, while it can be kept for about two years. The seeds are preserved in oil, syrup and brine. The unripe fruit is astringent in action and on ripening it becomes somewhat laxative.
The seed stretch relieves biliousness and the fruit is aphrodisiacal. The residue of the leaf if mixed with coconut oil heals ulcers. Mixed with vinegar, the milky juice promotes healing of abscesses, snake bites and glandular swellings.
In China, jackfruit pulp and seeds are considered as tonic, cool and nutritious. The wood of the tree is used for shipbuilding, furniture items, handles of agricultural tools and implements.