Jackfruit

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Name Variations

 * jakfruit
 * jak
 * nankga

About Jackfruit
Wikipedia Article About Jackfruit on Wikipedia

The Jackfruit (Telugu: Panasa;Bengali: Kathal; Bhojpuri: katahar; Chinese : 波罗蜜 (bōluómì); Kannada: Halasina kaayi;Hindi: Katahal; Malayalam: Chakka; Malay and Indonesian: nangka; Portuguese: Jaca; Sinhala: Kos; Tagalog: langka; Tamil: Palaa; Thai: kanoon; Vietnamese: mít; Swahili: finesi; taxonomic name Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a species of tree and its fruit, widely grown in Southeast-Asia and Brazil. The jackfruit is in the mulberry family Moraceae, and thought to be native to India and Bangladesh. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh.

The Jackfruit bears fruit three years after planting and the fruit is the largest edible fruit in commerce. It is a sweet fruit that can be bought in the U.S. and Europe in shops that sell exotic products. The fruit is usually sold canned with a sugar syrup or can be obtained fresh from Asian markets. Sweet chips are also produced from it. The jackfruit or nangka fruit is used in Southeast Asian cuisine like Vietnamese and Indonesian dishes. People often say that fresh jackfruit tastes like Juicy Fruit chewing gum.

Unripe jackfruits are sometimes eaten whole, cooked as a vegetable.

The wood of the Jackfruit tree is sometimes used for the production of musical instruments that are part of the gamelan.