One main staple in Jamaican life is the "Breadfruit." It is usually eaten with another popular food and that is the National Dish, "Ackee and Saltfish."
The wood part of the breadfruit tree is very light and Hawaiian artisans have used it since earliest times to fashion canoes, woodwork for houses, drums, surfboards and poi boards.
All parts of the tree, including the unripe fruit, are rich in milky, gummy latex. There are two main types: the normal, "wild" type (cultivated in some areas) with seeds and little pulp, and the "cultivated" (more widely grown) seedless type, but occasionally a few fully developed seeds are found in usually seedless ones. People in Jamaica and St. Vincent roast breadfruit. In Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, the favorite way is "oil down, that is steamed in coconut milk, while in the Leewards, they like it boiled. It can be turned into flour, which then can be used to make bread. Ripe breadfruit can be used to make breadfruit wine, patty, gizzada, pudding, cake, and punch.'
It doesn't matter how it is served to me. I love Breadfruit (wish I had some now).
O do I love breadfruit too! I've had it boiled, roasted, fried, mashed. mm-MM!
ReplyDeleteDo you know anything about the use of some part of the tree, leaf or fruit as a mosquito repellent? or of the latex?
I'm in Congo (DRC) where malnutrition is endemic, yet breadfruits rot on the trees. I'd like to educate people on all the uses of this amazing child of Nature (or gift of God). Any info you can give me will help.
Odile