Day 12 of 365

Day 12 and sticky Jackfruit

I decided I wanted to eat this piece of fruit long before this adventure began. I was visiting a fresh food market in Milwaukee and I saw this ugly monster in the massive produce section. At the time I had no idea what it was, or what was inside but I'm a curious chick and put it on my "one day I'll try that" list. Since this is the year of fulfilling those "one day" moments, today is jackfruit day.

I didn't buy a whole piece of fruit because these suckers are freakin' HUGE! (insert picture from the interweb because I couldn't find a person at the market to show me an uncut specimen.) Don't let the picture fool you. Getting the fruit out of this mother is like wrestling a toddler into a snowsuit and into a carseat in the middle of a Wisconsin winter. If you have no idea how hard that is, consider yourself blessed.

My purchased piece of fruit was a modest slice. When I was selecting it I wasn't aware that more seeds meant more fruit. The seed, which is edible, is surrounded by the actual fruit. I guess it makes sense but looking at it I thought it included the extremely sticky stringy crap around it, similar to the meat in an acorn squash. I was wrong, so... very... wrong. I'll discuss the stickiness later. So if you are buying a cut piece of jackfruit make sure you see seeds, cut or whole they mean more fruit and are tasty too.

So lets talk about the sticky bits. This jackfruit is held together by what I can only say is the spiderwebbing of the fruit world. HUGE warning, grease up your hands before touching the inside of this sucker. If you don't, you'll spend the next half hour going through the cabinet of chemicals looking for something to get this crap off you skin without taking your skin off with it. I used a combo of tea tree oil and dawn. I'm positive that the Professor on Gilligan's Island glued everything together with jackfruit glue. Not kidding, this shit is no joke.

Once I dissected the slice I was a little disappointed that I actually bought more compost then actual fruit. As I made the small pile I was thinking maybe it tastes as horrible as it looks and the universe was saving me from a belly-ache. It was not and I'm disappointed because jackfruit is actually very tasty. The flavor is pretty unique and I'd need to eat so much more to give you an accurate comparison.

I read that the seed is edible and can be roasted like an almond so I tried it. It is a definite win! I was just as disappointed that my jackfruit had only a single seed in it. I pan roasted and sliced it and I'm glad I was home alone and didn't have to share. As fruit goes I would buy a full piece and I think most people would enjoy tasting it. Absolute WIN on my "one day" list.

Day 12 was a delicious surprise.

Love & Light

Update to the fungus growing.

My scoby is coming along nicely and I've got little bits of mycelium growing in the mushroom dirt. So far we have success.