Fried Breadfruit — MK Carroll (2024)

FAQs

What does fried breadfruit taste like? ›

This unique fruit tastes great cooked and even makes fun fried chips. Have you ever heard of the breadfruit? This prickly oval fruit is popular throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, and when cooked, it tastes similar to—you guessed it! —freshly-baked bread.

Steaming breadfruit is a great way to keep fruit hydrated while cooking. Cut the fruit (peeled or not peeled) into quarters or smaller pieces to fit in the pot. The fruit is fully cooked when it can easily be cut with a fork. Steam fully or halfway to freeze and store for future use.

Allow it to cool, then cut off the outer skin using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler. Cut the breadfruit in half, and scoop out the inner core. Then slice each half into wedges. At this point you can eat the breadfruit as is, fry it, or freeze it.

The skin, which is edible, can be removed before steaming, left on for consumption, or removed after steaming (which is easiest). Steam until the flesh is tender and can be easily pierced with a fork. Steaming time varies depending on the size of the steamer and how large the pieces are. Breadfruit can also be boiled.

There is cost of transportation, electricity and depreciation of equipment, sure, but most of the price is for labor—labor is needed in caring for the trees, reaping the fruit, and transporting it to the marketplace or processing facility.

Breadfruit is an extremely versatile fruit that can be prepared and eaten at all stages of development and maturity. Mature fruit is the most desirable to use for most dishes, due to its potato-like texture.

Breadfruit is not only a good source of carbohydrate, dietary fiber, and protein, it also contains substantial amounts of micronutrients such as calcium (19.70–314.47 mg), potassium (361.60–1393.50 mg), iron (0.50–28.13 mg), vitamin C (8.57–16.35 mg), and B3 (1.11–3.34 mg) (5, 70).

The traditional Hawaiian methods for preparing breadfruit are to roast the fruit in a fire until the skin blackens and chars or cooking it in an imu (a deep, covered pit lined with fire heated rocks) and then peeling and eating it.

Unfortunately, the only place on the continental USA where they can survive outdoors is in lower Florida Keys and areas of south Florida. Breadfruit is a TRUE tropical species, and there are no varieties that are cold tolerant.

Breadfruit is here to help; a nutrient-dense fiber-rich staple that packs 25% of your fiber daily recommended allowance into around ½ a cup of fruit. Compared to white rice, 'ulu delivers more than 16 times the fiber and more than double the fiber of white potatoes.

Is breadfruit healthier than rice? ›

Breadfruit is considered a fair-to-good source of dietary fiber, delivering five times the fiber found in brown rice and sixteen times the fiber found in white rice.

Breadfruit is also known to be a resistant starch, which means that during its digestive process it is resistant to enzyme breakdown [4]. This resistant starch contributes to breadfruit's low glycemic index and allows for better control of diabetes.

Frying. Raw breadfruit can be fried, but you can also use roasted or boiled breadfruit for this, since it remains firm and sliceable after cooking. Cooking fresh breadfruit in oil calls for slicing it or cutting it into sticks and cooking it in hot oil until golden brown and cooked through.

How to tell if your breadfruit has gone bad. If the fruit is soft to the touch, it has gone bad. Other signs of spoilage include mold or fungus growing on it and patches of black or brown bruising on the surface of the fruit.

Breadfruit is closely related to the breadnut. It is similar in appearance to its relative of the same genus, the jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus).

Flavor and Texture: - Breadfruit: When cooked, the flesh of breadfruit has a starchy, potato-like flavor and a firm, dense texture. - Jackfruit: The ripe jackfruit has a sweet and tropical flavor, similar to a blend of pineapple, mango, and banana. Its texture is fibrous and chewy, similar to pulled pork.