CHENNAI: It’s now that time of the year when jackfruit mania grips the city. The luscious fruit has started occupying a vast portion of vegetable and fruit markets at Koyambedu here.
Retail vendors have also started to dot roadsides and markets of the city with their mobile carts full of jackfruits. There is a huge demand for the finest varieties, especially those from Panruti in Cuddalore district. Huge stocks of this jack of all fruits also come from Nagercoil, Theni and some parts of Kerala.
Rich in nutrition, this fruit is a known cancer fighter.
“Hitherto, jackfruits remained the most neglected fruit in the preference list of city dwellers. But a new awareness about the taste and essentiality of jackfruit is visible among city residents. So the demand is increasing,’’ said Shiva Kumar, a wholesale jackfruit seller at Koyambedu market.
The Panruti variety, which comes from the sleepy coastal taluk in Cuddalore, has an exceptional taste making it a delight for gourmets. Aficionados say they are fat, sweet and tasty. The biggest jackfruit from Panruti weighs over 70 kg at Koyambedu market. The celebrated Hawaiian jackfruit comes only in the second position as they weigh a mere 34 kg.
If the thriving business in Chennai markets is any indication, the per capita consumption of the fruit is on a steady increase this season. People here love jackfruit. From sunrise to sunset you can see people carrying ' palaa pazham’ (as jackfruit is known locally) on their heads, in bullock carts, two-wheelers, buses and cars in the main markets.
“It has an attractive yellow colour, a distinctive sweet and fruity aroma that lures onlookers towards it. It withstands pests and diseases and it is highly organic. No chemical inputs are added to artificially ripen or preserve it”, added Shiva Kumar.
Far more nutritious than mangoes, oranges and any other tropical fruit, jackfruit is one fruit that one can pick up fearlessly and savour in this hot season. It can be cooked as a vegetable when it’s raw and eaten as it is when it’s ripe.
People of Kerala and Karnataka make more than 200 traditional recipes out of it which ranges from jackfruit-based ice cream, chocolate, squash, jelly, juice, bonda, payasam, papad, chips, peda, halwa etc. But in Tamil Nadu, people generally eat it as a fruit. “Here, the fruit is more in demand when there are festivals and functions”, says a roadside jackfruit seller.
