Breadfruit. What do I do with it?

[xiphias]

In Waltham today, while waiting around, I went into the Indian grocery, and they had breadfruit. So I bought one.

Now, according the DA INTERNETZ, breadfruit are cooked and eaten in different ways at different stages in their development, so the one plant is remarkably versatile. And the one I got is at its "super-ripe, eat before it rots" stage.

They have some similarity to bananas, in which, at their greenest stage, you use them like a tuber, as in plantain fries, and then, as they mature, they get sweeter and more useful for dessert, and then, if you wait too long, they're no good for anybody but fruit flies.

And I appear to have bought one at the "dessert" stage.

So I cut it in half, and stared at it.

So, you know how bananas get mushy, but still kind of sticky? And you know how bread dough is mushy, but still kind of sticky? The fruit of it mushed through my hands and felt EXACTLY like a soft bread dough. And smelled somewhat like a banana, but also somewhat vegetal.

Everything about it was simultaneously screaming to me, "I AM FOOD", and also "I'M NOT REALLY FOOD".

So, I mushed up a ball of it, squished it flat, and fried it. It looks kind of like a pancake, smells a little like a banana pancake.

I don't know if I like it. I think I do. Then I think I don't.

I mean, if I were on a tropical island, and I had to catch fish and eat breadfruit, I wouldn't be miserable. I don't really LIKE fish that much, but if it's a choice between "skip a meal" and "eat fish", I'd eat fish. Not even getting to if the choice was "eat fish" or "be really hungry."

I think breadfruit, at least this particular breadfruit, squished up and fried, is in the same category. There are many other things I'd like to eat more than I'd like to eat this, but I'd rather eat this than skip a meal.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*snerk*

First of all, get a less over-ripe one next time. Secondly, peel it and slice it into wedges 1/4 inch thick and fry in about that same depth of oil in a skillet until golden on both sides. That's how most of the breadfruit I ate as a child was prepared. (You could also build a fire, throw it in whole, and turn it every so often until charred all over outside and baked through inside, but that's a little rustic.)

That said, I never loved breadfruit, but I certainly would eat breadfruit and fish rather than starve. It was okay-to-good if not happy-dance-evoking.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yes. Okay-to-good-but-not-happy-dance seems to be where I'd put it on my initial foray. My first attempt got to the level of Lis going, "Hunh. That wasn't bad. If you make another one of those pancakes, I'll eat that one so I can keep thinking about if I really like it."

If I knew what I was doing, I bet I coild get it up to "kinda nifty," or even "pretty good." And if had a positive emotional connotation to it, I bet I could be downright fond of it.

As it is, I expect that it will stay in the perfectly respectable "okay-to-good" category.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

The other thing to note is that I'm using a lot less fats and oils these days than I would prefer, because of the whole Weight Watchers thing. I think this would have gone REALLY well fried in a little butter, maybe with some cinnamon sugar. I saw a couple recipiea involving throwing it in a blender with milk, honey, and cocoa powder, using it mainly for its texture, and only secondarily for its taste.

If I was doing things like that, I think it could turn out real well.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, point, sorry about that. You could also spritz it with some cooking spray and roast it at 400F (I think it needs at least a touch of fat to render it crispy rather than hard). In Jamaican cuisine it's eaten as a starch alongside mildly spicy savory dishes -- many such starches are mildly sweet to complement the spice, like "festivals" (fried cornmeal dumplings), plantains, and "rice and peas" (coconut rice with red beans). Playing up its sweetness sounds intriguing but not at all within my particular culinary vernacular.

[jazzfish]

One of the few good things to come out of the mid-nineties Harrison Ford vehicle "Six Days Seven Nights":

ANNE HECHE: (with visible disgust) Breadfruit.
HARRISON FORD: It's not bread.
ANNE HECHE: It's not fruit.

[daphnep.livejournal.com]

Fantastic description. So many times it's impossible to describe a new taste to people who haven't tasted it, and frustrating to hear a description when you can't taste it. But this is an excellent portrayal.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Breadfruit can be real tasty if eaten at the right time. I also used it once ro attract drosophila in an experiment for a course i once did back in the eighties.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

See, for me, "attracting drosophila" is considered a failure mode.

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

Breadfruit bread? Like banana bread, the traditional way of using up overripe fruit? If you could find a suitable recipe for how you are currently eating/cooking...

Chestnuts

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

I was playing Ingress yesterday around the UPenn Museum and went into a courtyard to hack a couple of portals. I noticed a lot of dark brown roundish things on the ground and realized they were ripe chestnuts fallen from the trees. Well, I have happy memories of roasted chestnuts, so I gathered up about fifty of them. Now I have to learn how to do them right... and the stupid oven in this apartment is not calibrated (though I've gotten some helpful advice).

Re: Chestnuts

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

So there are North American chestnuts? Why did I think that the chestnut was extinct in the New World?

Re: Chestnuts

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

I dunno. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut :

Species

Chestnuts belong to the family Fagaceae, which also includes oaks and beeches. The four main species are commonly known as European, Chinese, Japanese, and American chestnuts, some species called chinkapin or chinquapin:

European species: sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) (also called "Spanish chestnut" in the US) is the only European species of chestnut, though was successfully introduced to the Himalayas and other temperate parts of Asia. Unrelated, but externally similar species of horse chestnut are abundant around Europe.
Asiatic species: Castanea crenata (Japanese chestnut), Castanea mollissima (Chinese chestnut), Castanea davidii (China), Castanea henryi (Chinese chinkapin, also called Henry's chestnut – China) and Castanea seguinii (also called Seguin's chestnut – China)
American species: These include Castanea dentata (American chestnut – Eastern states), Castanea pumila (American- or Allegheny chinkapin, also known as "dwarf chestnut" – Eastern states), Castanea alnifolia (Southern states), Castanea ashei (Southern states), Castanea floridana (Southern states) and Castanea paupispina (Southern states).

Chestnuts should not be confused with horse chestnuts (genus Aesculus), which are not related to Castanea and are named for producing nuts of similar appearance, but which are mildly poisonous to humans, nor should they be confused with water chestnut (family Cyperaceae), which are also unrelated to Castanea and are tubers of similar taste from an aquatic herbaceous plant. Other trees commonly mistaken for the chestnut tree are the chestnut oak (Quercus prinus) and the American beech (Fagus grandifolia).

[metaphortunate.livejournal.com]

Are you sure this isn't dwarf bread fruit?

(I keep cracking up at your description. It was almost but not entirely like things that are not food.)