Artocarpus altilis/Breadfruit seeds are encased in a large football-sized, oval to oblong fruit. … Breadfruit seeds must be cooked to be considered edible, as the raw nuts will contain a bitter flavor, and once cooked, the seeds soften, developing a subtly sweet, nutty, and mild flavor.

Breadfruit seed hull (seed coat or seed shell) is an agricultural waste. Breadfruit seeds are encased in a large football-sized, oval to oblong fruit. The fruits typically have a prickly, yellow-green to yellow-brown skin coloring, but their appearance may vary depending on the specific variety. Underneath the surface, the flesh ripens into a soft, creamy, and starchy consistency, containing many brown seeds. The seeds have an oval, oblong, to irregular shape with a slightly pointed end, averaging 5 to 10 centimeters in length, and are enveloped in a protective brown shell, sometimes with dark striping. Just below the hard outer surface, there is a thin, parchment paper-like covering, and the seeds have flattened sides, giving them an angular appearance. The central portion of the seed is cream-colored to ivory. Breadfruit seeds must be cooked to be considered edible, as the raw nuts will contain a bitter flavor, and once cooked, the seeds soften, developing a subtly sweet, nutty, and mild flavor.

Breadfruit is a multipurpose species whose all parts are used. The trees of Breadfruit are known as the plants with the highest food yield. Breadfruit prefers deep, well-drained, fertile soils ─ sandy-loams, sands, sandy clay loams, loams to sandy coralline soils. The tree is tolerable to salt and drought but is sensitive to cold. The trees measure 85 feet high and the trunk measures more than 2 meters in diameter. Each tree could produce 50 to 150 fruits in a year. Fruits are oval, round, and oblong which weigh about 12 pounds. It contains obovoid or rounded, irregularly compressed seeds measuring 1 to 3 cm long. Seeds are quite similar to chestnuts. It possesses a thin hard shell outside and is sweet or creamy inside when cooked. The inner meat of the nut is enclosed with a brown membrane. The latex sap is present in all parts of the tree which are used as a sealant for canoe caulking. The wood is durable and light with light golden color which darkens with age. The wood is used for the construction of canoes and houses and is also carved into statues, bowls, furniture, handicrafts, and others.

Being a versatile fruit, Breadfruit could be prepared and consumed in all stages of development as well as maturity. Ripe or mature fruit is consumed as vegetables. It is widely used in various dishes due to its texture like potatoes. Breadfruit is free from gluten and is loaded with nutrients. It has a high content of carbohydrates and is a great source of calcium, antioxidants, copper, carotenoids, iron, energy, dietary fiber, omega 3, niacin, omega 6, potassium, phosphorus, thiamine, protein, vitamin C and Vitamin A. 100 grams of seeds provides about 7.4 grams or 13 percent of daily recommended values.

Seasons/Availability

Breadfruit seeds are available year-round, harvested from fruits that ripen multiple times a year in tropical climates worldwide.

Current Facts

Breadfruit seeds, botanically classified as Artocarpus altilis, are edible seeds embedded in the flesh of the well-known tropical breadfruit, belonging to the Moraceae family. There are several hundred varieties of breadfruit worldwide, and the trees are fast-growing, reaching up to 26 meters in height. Breadfruit trees are also highly productive. A single tree can generate approximately 204 kilograms of fruit annually. Breadfruit grows in an ultratropical climate, and almost all parts of the tree and fruits are used for medicinal, cultural, and culinary uses. The fruits can be seedless or seeded, depending on the variety, and the seeds are a secondary nutrition source as the flesh is the primary part of the fruit consumed. Breadfruit seeds are also known as Semilla Arbol de Pan, and once the seeds are cooked and prepared, they are popularly eaten as a snack, considered a delicacy worldwide.

Nutritional Value

Breadfruit seeds are a good source of carbohydrates to provide energy to the body and copper to maintain optimal nervous system functioning. The seeds also provide fiber to regulate the digestive tract, niacin to assist the body to process food into energy, vitamin B6 to maintain an active metabolism and contains lower amounts of vitamin C, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, thiamine, and folate.

Applications

Breadfruit seeds must be cooked before consumption and are well-suited for roasting, frying, boiling, steaming, or baking. Prepping and cooking the seeds is labor-intensive as the seeds must be cooked, cooled, and then peeled. The shell and membrane will easily come off, but it breaks apart into smaller pieces causing the process to be slow. The most popular method to prepare Breadfruit seeds is to boil the seeds for at least a half-hour or until the seeds can be easily pierced. Once cooled, the seeds can be peeled and sprinkled with salt as a savory snack, pan-fried in butter to develop richer, nutty flavors, or roasted over a fire for added depth. Breadfruit seeds can also be fried and consumed similarly to potatoes, cooked and tossed into soups and stews, blended into a puree, cooked, smashed, sprinkled in sugar, and then dried or boiled and tossed into salads. Beyond cooking and using the seeds whole, Breadfruit seeds can be processed into flour and baked into bread and pastries or mixed into pasta. Breadfruit seeds pair well with coconut milk, vanilla, cream, and salt. Whole Breadfruit seeds should be cooked immediately for the best quality and flavor. The seeds can also be processed into flour for extended use and stored in a sealed container in a cool, dry, and dark place.

Ethnic/Cultural Info

Breadfruit has been widely touted as a “wonder food.” The fruits are highly nutritious, fast-growing, and low maintenance, producing high fruit yields in just 3 to 5 years. Once established, breadfruit trees are also utilized for medicinal and household purposes, using many parts of the tree, including the leaves, fruit, latex, and bark. In Costa Rica, breadfruit is sometimes known as Fruta de Pan or Arbol de Pan and was introduced from the Caribbean in the late 1800s. Since its introduction, the tropical fruits grow abundantly along the country’s Caribbean coastline, and the trees are often found in backyards and home gardens. In the past few decades, there has been a movement to educate Costa Rican farmers on the importance of breadfruit cultivation as a regenerative crop, and several organizations are partnering with local growers to increase production. Most farmers used to view their breadfruit trees as a waste of space as the productive trees tend to drop fruits, creating a rotting layer of decomposing flesh around the tree’s base. As agroforestry organizations have visited these properties, they encourage the farmers to keep the fruits and sell them for use as processed flour. Breadfruit flour can be shipped worldwide and requires an influx of fruit for processing, allowing the farmers to boost sales and plant more trees. In addition to drying the fruits, growers cook the seeds and sell them in local markets as a chestnut-like, on-the-go snack.

Geography/History

Breadfruit is native to tropical regions spanning from the Malay Archipelago to Oceania. The fruits have been growing wild since ancient times and were extensively cultivated by civilizations for improved fruit characteristics. Over time, the trees were spread throughout the Pacific to Polynesia through explorers, and experts believe the fruits were introduced from Samoa into Hawaii sometime in the 12th century. In the late 18th century, breadfruit was brought to the New World from the South Pacific through British explorers as a potential food source in the Caribbean. The fruits were seen as an inexpensive source of nutrients with high-energy content to feed the slaves working on plantations throughout the Caribbean islands. Breadfruit was eventually carried to South and Central America through migrating peoples, where the trees were planted and naturalized throughout warm, humid regions. Today breadfruit is only cultivated in tropical climates and cannot tolerate cold weather or frost. The fruits are grown in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. When in season, breadfruit is typically sold through local markets, specialty distributors, select grocers, and grown in home gardens. Some breadfruit is also exported to colder countries as a specialty fruit, including Europe, Canada, and the United States..

Traditional uses

• Seeds contain moderate amounts of protein.
• Dehusk the seeds before consumption to prevent obesity.

Precautions                                                                                                 

• Uncooked seeds should not be consumed raw because it is bitter in taste and might cause choke.
• People having health problems should consult the doctor for use.

How to Eat

• Seeds are consumed after roasting, boiling, frying, or baking.
• Seeds are cooked in salted water and roasted with salt over a fire or hot coals before consumption.
• Seeds are sun-dried and used like nuts and kernels.
• It is also used to make a puree.
• Breadfruit is the main food in Polynesia and Micronesia and is a supplementary staple in most of Melanesia.
• Immature and ripe fruit, seeds, young leaves, and ripe blossoms are consumed in several parts of the world.
• Immature, half-ripe, and ripe fruit and seeds from ripe fruits are eaten after boiling, roasting, baking or frying.
• Cooked or raw fruit can also be preserved in pits or by sun-drying.
• Breadfruit can be commercially dehydrated by tunnel drying or freeze-drying and the waste from these processes constitutes a highly digestible stock feed.
• When still firm, breadfruit can be boiled, baked, fried, sautéed, sliced, and stir-fried.
• It can be diced and added to a wide variety of main dishes as is used for potato, yam, taro, sweet potato.
• It can be made into chips, patties, salads, soups, curries, stews, casseroles, chowder, puddings, buns, bread, dessert, and other savory dishes.
• When half-ripe it can be baked or lightly fried in oil.
• Whole fruits can be cooked in an open fire, then cored and filled with other foods such as coconut milk, sugar, and butter, cooked meats, or other fruits.
• Soft ripe fruit is used in pies, cakes, biscuits, bread, puddings, or another dessert.
• The pulp scraped from soft, ripe breadfruits is combined with coconut milk (not coconut water), salt, and sugar and baked to make a pudding.
• Breadfruit can also be dried, made into flour by pounding or by grinding or frozen to preserve it for later use.
• Breadfruit can be fermented by burial in layers of leaves in a pit, fermented fruit, mixed with coconut cream, and baked into sour bread.
• Fermented breadfruit mash goes by many names such as mahr, ma, mass, fur, and bwiru, among others.
• Some popular items are breadfruit fritters consisting of mature fruit, egg, milk powder, chopped onion, bread fruit, and fish salad, roast chicken and breadfruit stuffing, breadfruit in beef stew.
• Another common product is a mixture of cooked or fermented breadfruit mash mixed with coconut milk and baked in banana leaves.
• Steamed fruit is occasionally sliced, rolled in flour, and fried in deep fat.
• Breadfruit can also be candied or sometimes prepared as a sweet pickle.
• Firm-ripe fruits are peeled, sliced and fried in syrup or palm sugar until it is crisp and brown in Malaysia.
• Filipinos enjoy the cooked fruit with coconut and sugar.
• Under-ripe fruits are diced, boiled, and served with butter and sugar, or salt and pepper, or diced and cooked with other vegetables, bacon, and milk as chowder in Hawaii.
• Breadfruit soup is made by boiling under-ripe chunks of breadfruit in water with cooked salt pork, chopped onion, white pepper, and salt, to which is then added milk and butter, and a dash of sherry in the Bahamas.
• Dried fruit has been made into flour and improved methods have been explored in Barbados and Brazil breadfruit flour is used in combination with wheat flour in bread making.
• Breadfruit flour is much richer than wheat flour in lysine and other essential amino acids.
• Flour is boiled, sweetened, and eaten as porridge for breakfast in Jamaica.
• Soft or overripe breadfruit is best for making chips and these are being manufactured commercially in Trinidad and Barbados.
• Some breadfruit is canned in Dominica and Trinidad for shipment to London and New York.
• Breadfruit can substitute for taro in poi, resulting in “breadfruit poi” called poi ‘ului in Hawaii.
• In Puerto Rico, it is called pana or panel which is served with a combination of sautéed bacalao (salted cod fish), olive oil, and onions.
• Breadfruit bread is called buen pan in the Dominican Republic.
• Breadfruit seeds are cooked in salted water, roasted with salt over a fire or in hot coals or baked before eating.
• They are sometimes made into a puree in West Africa.
• Cooked seeds are sold by street vendors in Costa Rica.
• Fallen male flower spikes are boiled, peeled, and eaten as vegetables or are candied by recooking, for 2–3 h, in syrup; then rolled in powdered sugar and sundried in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and South Pacific.
• Young leaves are cooked with coconut cream and salt.
• Flour made from breadfruit can be combined with wheat flour to make bread.

Other Traditional uses and benefits of Breadfruit

• Breadfruit is used in several traditional folk medicines.
• Breadfruit is a laxative and heated fruit slices are used for furuncles in the Philippines.
• Decoction of leaves is used for baths in rheumatism while a decoction of the bark is used for dysentery.
• Tree latex is used for hernias in children.
• Decoction of the breadfruit leaf is believed to lower blood pressure and is also said to relieve asthma in Trinidad and the Bahamas.
• Crushed leaves are applied on the tongue as a treatment for thrush.
• Leaf juice is used as eardrops.
• Ashes of burned leaves are used on skin infections.
• Powder of roasted leaves is used as a remedy for enlarged spleen.
• The crushed fruit is poulticed on tumors to “ripen” them.
• Toasted flowers are rubbed on the gums around an aching tooth.
• Latex is used on skin diseases and is bandaged on the spine to relieve sciatica.
• Diluted latex is taken internally to overcome diarrheal.
• Artocarpus altilis was used for hypertension in ethno medicines of Trinidad and Tobago.
• Artocarpus altilis roots are used as a component in Thai folk remedies for venereal diseases and cancer.
• Stems and roots have been used traditionally for the treatment of liver cirrhosis, hypertension, anti-inflammatory, and detoxifying effects in Taiwan.

Other Facts

• Breadfruit trees are planted as windbreaks, ornamentals and as shade trees in coffee plantations.
• Wood is valued as a source of commercial timber.
• Wood is resistant to termites and marine worms and is used for canoe hulls and occasionally in house construction.
• Wood is also used for carving statues, bowls, and other wooden objects.
• The inner bark is used to make bark cloth called ‘tapa’.
• Inner bast fibers are used to make strong cordage used for fishing and animal harnesses in Samoa, Micronesia, and the Philippines.
• Latex is used for chewing gum, as bird-lime, as seal-lime to prepare wooden surfaces for painting, or to caulk boats to make them watertight.
• Leaves are used for wrapping food for cooking, for parceling of fresh food, and as plates.
• Dried inflorescences are burnt as a mosquito repellent.
• Under-ripe fruits are cooked for feeding to pigs.
• Uncooked soft ripe fruits are used as animal feed.

Types of Breadfruit

There are two primary sorts:

Seeded breadfruit:

Usually, “wild” variety is grown in certain locations along with seeds as well as very little pulp. Kamani or even Seeded Breadfruit is strongly associated with Jackfruit. Both have sharpened points upon their skin. This is extremely abundant with starch. It really is possibly roasted, baked, fried, or even boiled.

It really is cooked along with pork as well as coconut milk. It really is offered just like a vegetable as well as consumed along with steamed rice as viand. It could also be completed to unripe jackfruit.

Seedless breadfruit:

However, it is called the seedless breadfruit, however, from time to time a few completely produced seeds are normally found in generally seedless cultivars. The seeds are usually oblong about 3/4” lengthy, dull-brown along with darker lines.

Breadfruit could be consumed uncooked or even cooked. It is really an essential method of obtaining carbohydrates or even “starch” and is also a nutritional choice from time to time, particularly in Polynesia. The humid internal pulp of seedless varieties (breadfruit) is consumed right after cooking, and it has the flavor as well as structure of potatoes. The seeds of the seeded (breadnut) variety may also be cooked (boiled or roasted). In the West Indies, a decoction of the leaves can be used to reduce high blood pressure and also to reduce bronchial asthma. The shoots, bark as well as latex also have medicinal purposes.

How to store Breadfruit

Select breadfruits which are vibrant green, thicker as well as rough, without any bruises or any other blemishes. Keep breadfruit within the fridge as much as 1 week soon after buying. The skin color will certainly darken whilst in the fridge.

Disadvantage of Breadfruit

Each and every fruit possesses its own benefits & demerits. Just like a number of other fresh fruits, breadfruit also offers a tiny demerit. In order to avoid the calories from getting settled within the body tissues, one may well not get this particular breadfruit in the course of the nighttime. Therefore every one must take just a little care whilst consuming this particular fresh fruit.

Ways to Eat Breadfruit

Cooking breadfruit may appear just like a daunting effort, yet preparing these particular Pacific meals is in fact fairly simple. For those who have dealt with potatoes or even melons in the kitchen area, you will find it simple to learn this particular healthy, tasty as well as versatile fruit. Breadfruit, which features a starchy structure, has elevated levels of vitamin C, dietary fiber as well as potassium, and could be boiled, baked, steamed, grilled, or even deep-fried. A couple of recipes provide scrumptious choices for dinner which will certainly make an impression on your friends and family.

• Cut the breadfruit directly into quarters, lengthwise, and take away the core. Peel off the skin from the breadfruit utilizing a knife since you would a melon or even squash.
• Dice the peeled breadfruit into half-inch bits.
• Place the chopped breadfruit right into a big pot of boiling hot water. Boil till sensitive (test as you would a potato), roughly fifteen minutes. Deplete the breadfruit in the colander.
• Melt the butter in the deeply sauté pan. Add some breadfruit, as well as sauté right up until somewhat golden brown, roughly 5 minutes. Pepper and salt to taste. Offer hot.
• For a fairly sweet dish, add the cup of brown sugar on the butter within the sauté pan.

Coconut Grilled Breadfruit

• Place the entire, unpeeled breadfruit straight onto a warm grill.
• Cover as well as cook up until the skin is smoothly blackened as well as the fruit is sensitive, roughly 1 hour. Make use of a metal skewer to check for tenderness. Make sure to occasionally flip the fruit on the grill to make sure even cook. If your fruit is performed, take it out of the grill and invite it for cooling.
• Remove the stem, as well as cut the breadfruit in two. Throw out the core, and place the halves in the short grill-safe dish. Fill the two open cavities using the coconut cream and let the dish capture any kind of overflow.
• Return the breadfruit halves towards the grill for an additional Ten to fifteen minutes in order that the coconut oil can absorb into the flesh of the fruit. Eliminate the dish through the heat and let it for cooling off.
• Peel the skin, slice the fruit into bite-size pieces, include pepper and salt, as well as offer hot.

References

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