Jackfruit: What It Is + Why You're Going To Want To Eat It All Summer

Don't be fooled, though: As with so many fruits with tough exteriors (lookin' at you, pineapple), it's got a soft and friendly interior. In fact, it's incredibly sweet, almost like candy.

Most people haven't heard of it—except for vegans—but it's starting to make its way around the wellness world. As many of us try to cut back on eating meat (for health or environmental reasons), we're finding our protein from other sources like nuts, beans, and quinoa. And we're always looking for the next best thing.

And that thing is the jackfruit, native of South and Southeast Asia. Not only is it rich in protein, it's also packed with potassium, magnesium, vitamin B, and vitamin C. And with about 95 calories in about a half a cup, it isn't quite as high-carb or caloric as other staple sources of protein, like rice or corn.

It can be eaten raw when it's ripe, soft and fruity, as a dessert (on its own or atop something else, like ice cream or pudding). It can also be served unripe, when it isn't sweet yet and has a meatier texture, in savory dishes like curries or jackfruit "carnitas" or "pulled pork"—in which case it's cooked.

The seeds—which hold most of the fruit's protein—can be peeled and boiled like your standard legume. In Southeast Asia, they're dried and ground into curry, stir fry, juice, chips, ice cream, and even baking flour. To say it's versatile would be an understatement.

But perhaps the most promising development for jackfruit in the domestic market is going down at Upton's Naturals, a vegan meat-alternative company in Chicago. Last year, they introduced a line of packaged, ready-to-eat, preseasoned, young jackfruit. The Jackfruit Company is doing something similar—with flavors like curry and teriyaki—and their products are available at Whole Foods.

Our favorite that we've tried so far comes from Chickpea & Olive, a vegan pop-up restaurant in New York City, which makes the most amazing pulled BBQ jackfruit sandwich. Smothered in BBQ sauce, its taste and mouthfeel are almost identical to pulled pork's.

But if you're determined to hack one open yourself (don't!), Strong recommends wearing a disposable glove, an apron or smock, working on the floor with a drop cloth, and having an open dish of liquid coconut oil at the ready. Rub a little oil on your bread knife and cut off the top and bottom of the fruit. Stand it up on its base like a pineapple, and cut off strips of the prickly skin, slicing from top to bottom, applying oil to the knife after each cut.

But again, Strong warns, the resin from the jackfruit is very difficult and unforgiving stuff. It can stain your clothes and it sticks to everything. If you get it in your hair, it's like bubble gum, so go get the peanut butter. And the fruit itself is hard to cut. Your best bet is probably with a machete.

Ingredients

You can do all kinds of fun stuff with this recipe. It's great with rice and beans better still in a burrito (see above), or just with a little pico de gallo in a taco, or a little salsa verde and Anita’s coconut yogurt.