Kerala’s humble jack fruit makes headlines in Germany
- Jack fruit burgers or tortilla recipes are trending on social media: German magazine Stylebook said.
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Kerala’s humble ‘Chakka,’ (jack fruit) is making headlines in Germany after German Travel Magazine Stylebook carried an article calling it a ‘super food’ and a trendy meat replacement. Taking the cue from the travel magazine, other magazines and newspapers have started praising the exotic ‘South Indian’ fruit for its versatility.
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Jack fruit burgers or tortilla recipes are trending on social media, the report said as the vegetarian substitute for meat. The ‘fruit meat’ is similar to that of chicken and pork, it says.
Just as Chakka can pamper your meat lust, it can also satisfy sweet lovers with deserts made of soft and succulent ripe jack fruit. The super fruit is full of vitamins, rich in trace elements and minerals, including calcium, magnesium and iron.
Though jack fruit was used as a substitute for rice by a large section of people in Kerala decades back, it lost its status, thanks to the change in food habits. Now, with new studies proving its multiple qualities, jack fruit is slowly getting back to the limelight.
After remaining in the shadow and neglected for long, as the exported fruits reined the markets in the state, jack retrieved its due respect in 2013 when Kerala State Agriculture Policy outlined plans for promotion of the super fruit for the first time. “It is high time we give the jack fruit its due recognition. The versatile fruit of Kerala ‘jack’, once Kerala's life-saver in months of scarcity, has immense scope for value addition,” it said.
Also read: Surprising benefits of the jackfruit, its seeds, and root that you didn’t know about
Fully ripened jack fruit bulbs can now be used to prepare jams, squashes, syrups, candy, fruit bars, fruit leather, ready-to-drink beverages, halwas, payasams, puddings, toffee, wine, kulfi and ice-cream. Half-ripened bulbs are processed to jack fruit powder and used for the preparation of bakery items such as burfi. The fruit has high nutritional value and is rich in calories, fibre, calcium, phosphorous, iron, and vitamins. It is used as an ingredient of baby food in certain regions. Jacalin, the major protein in jack fruit seed, has got many applications in immuno-biological research. Even the leaves of the jack fruit are said to have medicinal properties, the policy document explained.
