4 ms·

Fruit Mutiny: Whither the breadfruit?

42 points by Petiver 12y ago

pacala 12y ago
Breadfruit range doesn't seem particularly suited for "the lower 48". According to this map, it's growing range is hugging the Equator. http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer12articles/will-breadfruit-solve-the-world-hunger-crisis.html http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer12articles/will-bread...
- creshal 12y ago
  And apparently coincides with what little tropic forests are left?
  - scythe 12y ago
    Some areas desperately in need of trees -- the Sahel in particular -- are marked "suitable". The fact that breadfruit represents a substantially less grass-and-shrub-like paradigm than traditional agriculture makes the environmental impact of said agriculture potentially smaller.
- coldpie 12y ago
  Yeah. We're looking for a fruit tree to grow in our back yard in St Paul (44 degrees North), and this article got me a bit excited for something unique. But according to some sources I found, this plant's limits are roughly 17 degrees either side of the equator. On the other hand, I know of a very successful peach tree in Milwaukee, so maybe it'll do "well enough" even if it's not ideal conditions.
comrade1 12y ago
I really like breadfruit - I prefer it over potatoes. But it's not as simple as potatoes. It's slightly toxic when raw (depends on the species) and preparation, although not difficult, isn't as simple as potatoes. That said, if it was actually regularly available I would buy it regularly. I always assumed it wasn't available for the same reasons mangosteen wasn't available in the u.s. - that it was banned due to worry about parasites. We get mangosteen here in europe and I assume it's now available in the u.s. too. I'll have to look for some breadfruit now...
- jmckib 12y ago
  Where did you find it? I've always wanted to try it since reading about it in a Jules Verne novel.
  - koliber 12y ago
    I have seen fresh mangosteen at fruit and vegetable markets in London, near Shadwell station.
  - bmelton 12y ago
    If you're ever in Hawai'i, check out a farmer's market. It grows pretty easily over here, and is commonly used in a breadfruit-instead-of-taro version of poi called poi ulu (which should give you an indication of its flavor potency).
- SixSigma 12y ago
  Wild potatoes are also toxic, the green tinge spuds get is a remnant of that and does make some people ill. The commercial strains we eat now are domesticated. No doubt the same could be done with breadfruit.
vince_refiti 12y ago
The bread-fruit tree is ubiquitous in Samoa and it is a food staple used much like potatoes. My father planted a tree in the early seventies in Fasito'outa that is still feeding families in the area today. It has been used for famine relief in the past. They were buried in pits and as a consequence they fermented, and the foul-smelling masi was used as food. Best cooked baked, especially in an umu earth-oven with fish, pork and chicken. Mmmm, memories.
- huhtenberg 12y ago
  Does it really smell/taste like bread when baked?
manachar 12y ago
On the road to Hana there used to be a place that sold smoked breadfruit tacos. Alas, by the time I got there they stopped selling it as it's labor intensive and tourists wouldn't order it, preferring to eat kalua pig.
signal11 12y ago
For those looking for something similar to breadfruit, jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is pretty easy to get in many ethnic shops in the UK. It can be eaten as a (sweet and rather odorous) fruit, but when not quite ripe it's used for all sorts of Asian curries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit#Culinary_uses_for_unripe_fruit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit#Culinary_uses_for_unr... Here's an NPR article about it: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/01/308708000/heres-the-scoop-on-jackfruit-a-ginormous-fruit-to-feed-the-world http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/01/308708000/heres-...
- durkie 12y ago
  and it makes a surprisingly good vegan/vegetarian pulled pork substitute: http://www.moreveganblog.com/2014/06/28/bbq-pulled-jackfruit/ http://www.moreveganblog.com/2014/06/28/bbq-pulled-jackfruit...
Mikeb85 12y ago
As interesting as this is, I don't think it'll solve anything given it grows only around the equator. I know in the Caribbean they use a lot of breadfruit, as well as 'breadnut' (similar, but slightly different), and a bunch of other starchy fruits, tubers, and vegetables that we don't have. Of course, the reason is that those things grow there, good luck growing any of it in Canada (where I live). And imported these things aren't cheap.
mistermcgruff 12y ago
I used to have a breadfruit tree in my yard in Tennessee. We would take the fruit as it fell and line it up in the street and watch cars run over them. Seeing them crushed was pretty satisfying (I was 9 years old at the time). Then one day a car lost traction on our breadfruit gauntlet and the driver got terribly pissed. Haven't played with the fruit since.
- jessaustin 12y ago
  This may have been the hedge apple, which resembles the breadfruit but actually grows in temperate North America.

42 points by Petiver 12y ago

Breadfruit range doesn't seem particularly suited for "the lower 48". According to this map, it's growing range is hugging the Equator. http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer12articles/will-breadfruit-solve-the-world-hunger-crisis.html http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer12articles/will-bread...

creshal 12y ago
And apparently coincides with what little tropic forests are left?
- scythe 12y ago
  Some areas desperately in need of trees -- the Sahel in particular -- are marked "suitable". The fact that breadfruit represents a substantially less grass-and-shrub-like paradigm than traditional agriculture makes the environmental impact of said agriculture potentially smaller.
coldpie 12y ago
Yeah. We're looking for a fruit tree to grow in our back yard in St Paul (44 degrees North), and this article got me a bit excited for something unique. But according to some sources I found, this plant's limits are roughly 17 degrees either side of the equator. On the other hand, I know of a very successful peach tree in Milwaukee, so maybe it'll do "well enough" even if it's not ideal conditions.

comrade1 12y ago

I really like breadfruit - I prefer it over potatoes. But it's not as simple as potatoes. It's slightly toxic when raw (depends on the species) and preparation, although not difficult, isn't as simple as potatoes. That said, if it was actually regularly available I would buy it regularly. I always assumed it wasn't available for the same reasons mangosteen wasn't available in the u.s. - that it was banned due to worry about parasites. We get mangosteen here in europe and I assume it's now available in the u.s. too. I'll have to look for some breadfruit now...

jmckib 12y ago
Where did you find it? I've always wanted to try it since reading about it in a Jules Verne novel.
- koliber 12y ago
  I have seen fresh mangosteen at fruit and vegetable markets in London, near Shadwell station.
- bmelton 12y ago
  If you're ever in Hawai'i, check out a farmer's market. It grows pretty easily over here, and is commonly used in a breadfruit-instead-of-taro version of poi called poi ulu (which should give you an indication of its flavor potency).
SixSigma 12y ago
Wild potatoes are also toxic, the green tinge spuds get is a remnant of that and does make some people ill. The commercial strains we eat now are domesticated. No doubt the same could be done with breadfruit.

vince_refiti 12y ago

The bread-fruit tree is ubiquitous in Samoa and it is a food staple used much like potatoes. My father planted a tree in the early seventies in Fasito'outa that is still feeding families in the area today. It has been used for famine relief in the past. They were buried in pits and as a consequence they fermented, and the foul-smelling masi was used as food. Best cooked baked, especially in an umu earth-oven with fish, pork and chicken. Mmmm, memories.

huhtenberg 12y ago
Does it really smell/taste like bread when baked?

manachar 12y ago

On the road to Hana there used to be a place that sold smoked breadfruit tacos. Alas, by the time I got there they stopped selling it as it's labor intensive and tourists wouldn't order it, preferring to eat kalua pig.

signal11 12y ago

For those looking for something similar to breadfruit, jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is pretty easy to get in many ethnic shops in the UK. It can be eaten as a (sweet and rather odorous) fruit, but when not quite ripe it's used for all sorts of Asian curries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit#Culinary_uses_for_unripe_fruit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit#Culinary_uses_for_unr... Here's an NPR article about it: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/01/308708000/heres-the-scoop-on-jackfruit-a-ginormous-fruit-to-feed-the-world http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/01/308708000/heres-...

durkie 12y ago
and it makes a surprisingly good vegan/vegetarian pulled pork substitute: http://www.moreveganblog.com/2014/06/28/bbq-pulled-jackfruit/ http://www.moreveganblog.com/2014/06/28/bbq-pulled-jackfruit...

Mikeb85 12y ago

As interesting as this is, I don't think it'll solve anything given it grows only around the equator. I know in the Caribbean they use a lot of breadfruit, as well as 'breadnut' (similar, but slightly different), and a bunch of other starchy fruits, tubers, and vegetables that we don't have. Of course, the reason is that those things grow there, good luck growing any of it in Canada (where I live). And imported these things aren't cheap.

mistermcgruff 12y ago

I used to have a breadfruit tree in my yard in Tennessee. We would take the fruit as it fell and line it up in the street and watch cars run over them. Seeing them crushed was pretty satisfying (I was 9 years old at the time). Then one day a car lost traction on our breadfruit gauntlet and the driver got terribly pissed. Haven't played with the fruit since.

jessaustin 12y ago
This may have been the hedge apple, which resembles the breadfruit but actually grows in temperate North America.