Jackfruit

Artocarpus heterophyllus

Moraceae

The giant mulberry-family fruit of South Asia — a ripe dessert of yellow bulbs, or an unripe savory that happens to shred.

Ripe bulbs are a sweet; young unripe flesh is a cooked savory. The latex is a glue, not a tea. This is not breadfruit (a cousin).

Parts used: Ripe bulbs · Young fruit (cooked)
Traditional notes: Kitchen fruit · Traditional South Asian vegetable when young · A festival sweet when ripe
Grow · USDA 6b: Tropical tree, USDA 10–11. Not a temperate backyard. A named graft in the tropics. A pit north is a conversation. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug
Harvest: Ripe when it smells sweet from a distance and the skin yields. Young for savory, much earlier.

Oil the knife and your hands.
A whole ripe fruit will perfume a car. Plan accordingly.

Safety

Raw latex in the eye Known jackfruit or birch-related fruit allergy

Lore

Portuguese jaca from Malayalam chakka. The English jack is not a nickname for John. A single fruit can weigh as much as a toddler. The vegan shredded-meat era found a canned green form that South Indian kitchens already cooked as a vegetable, without the barbecue sauce.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.