Saturday, October 1, 2011

It's Jackfruit Season in South Florida

Jackfruits are back! 
The first time I tried jackfruit was in Bangkok, Thailand. I fell in love with the sweet pale yellow segments that tasted like a mix of rose water and well, jackfruit.

When it comes to purchasing whole fruit I have been very unlucky. The flesh is either unripe and tasteless or rotten and at $2-$3/pound for a 20 pound or more fruit, that can get expensive.

Last weekend, I visited the South Miami Farmers market in Coral Gables and saw several jackfruit for sale. I hesitated because I didn't the expected $60 available to purchase one. I lucked out and found a ripe jackfruit of approx 15 pounds selling for $20! I could afford that type of mistake.

I got it home, took out a large knife and coated it in oil as the seller had told me to do. The fruit had just been picked that morning and was full of latex. I cut open the fruit, pushed my hand through the non-edible sections and grabbed hold of a bright orange-yellow piece. It was smooth yet stringy in texture and tasted like my first piece in Thailand, ahh.

If you have never tried them and live in the south Florida area, then now is the time. They are a tropical fruit tree that produces large, rough green skinned fruit from its trunck. They have a short season and are grown from Homestead (Miami-Dade County) to Palm Beach County.

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