Jackfruit: The food that binds families

An interesting write-up from a 3^rd grade student about Malayalee’s favourite puttu was doing rounds in social media last week. Here it goes:

The food I dont like is puttu. It is a Kerala food and made of rice. It is very easy, so my mother makes it every morning. The problem is that when they serve, after five minutes the puttu will turn into a rock and I will not eat it and when I ask for another food they will not make it, also and then I will starve and fight and she will scold me and I will cry. Puttu breaks relationships.

This child is really amazing. We can feel the words pouring from his heart. Yes, food can break relationships. In many families, food is the trigger of fights between the couple; and for some others, food is a weapon to fight and win (as in satyagraha).

However, here I am going to explain about a food that can strengthen the bonds. Yes, it’s the real star, the master of all fruits: the jackfruit.

Whether raw or ripe, jackfruit is the star for many reasons. First, the gigantic fruit carries the energy and stuff to fill the gut and the mind. It spreads joy around. I remember those summer days when we enjoyed the jackfruits produced at our own home and also our neighbourhood without any reservation. If a jackfruit is cut at our neighbour, it is a feast for us too J

Cutting the jackfruit is a celebration, like how you cut a birthday cake and share each piece to your dear ones. It happens mostly in the evening, the snack time. The big brother in that family takes charge of the cutting process. We kids sit around and wait anxiously for our share. He cuts the jackfruit into half, and then quarter, and then smaller pieces again. The next process is to cut off the core part which is joined with the bulb, the edible part.  The cutting process is difficult as it needs to be done with a big, sharp knife, and we kids were not capable of doing it. 

Then comes the feast. As he distributes each one’s share, we apply oil in our hands to avoid getting sticky. Holding the piece in hand, we start plucking the bulb by separating it from the “rags.” Rags are the fibre-like strands that surround the bulb. In certain varieties of jackfruits, the strands appear thick and fat, so they are edible too. I love those fat rags in properly ripen jackfruits.

The entire process of cutting, eating, removing the peel from seeds, and cleaning the waste takes almost an hour or more. All this while, we talk about interesting things, pulling each other’s legs or playing movie name games. That’s how we spend our summer holidays those days when there was no television, mobile phone or expensive toys.

Jackfruit also reminds me of the favourite Vishu celebration. My mother prepares jackfruit chips on the eve of Vishu, almost at midnight because that is the time she is free from routine household chores. Even today, the smell of jackfruit chips fried in coconut oil reminds me of Vishu and the childhood summer celebrations.

The next, the chakka varatti, the jackfruit halwa or jackfruit preserve, is a special item that reminds me of Kochechi (please read about her here). She was expert in preparing the halwa, rich in ghee and jaggery. She is very meticulous about the taste, the texture and the constituency so that it can be preserved for several months. We preserve it in clay jars (bharani) and consume during off season. You can eat it the way it is or make delicious chakka payasam or kumbil appam whenever needed.

Last but not the least, jackfruit also reminds me of those unfortunate days when we missed some of our meals due to poverty. I remember my mother prepared the jackfruit puzhuk (a type of vegetable preparation) one day for lunch, not as the accompaniment to meals but as the main dish because there was no single grain of rice left in our home. I still remember how the three of us kids sat together with our mother at the kitchen corridor for that ‘special’ lunch and how she managed to control her emotions and convinced us that she would get rice for dinner from somewhere. She did it; I don’t remember how and from where she procured that, but I only know that she had to do it….. 

to be contd………….

Rajani Baburajan

Co-founder, Kochechi, a brand of Fresh Foods Kerala