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J blue

Jackfruit, Artocarpus heterophyllus 1/

Easy care, grows like a beast. It can zone push to at least 8 in the US and still get worthwhile harvest… of leaves!

This thread is how to cook with jackfruit leaves. They are dense in nutrition and protein. And they’re not just for goats!

Young leaves taste slightly sweet and herbal with a tiny tang.
Mature: dark herbal flavor with undertones of star anise.

2/ To eat mature jackfruit leaves, first air dry them in a dark place (so they don’t bleach). Mature jackfruit leaves have some inedible fiber. To remove this fiber:
-First cut out the main vein with a scissors
-Then cut leaf into pieces and stuff into a clean coffee grinder, shake the machine as you grind to get the finest powder
-Pour ground leaves into a fine sieve over a bowl, stir with a spoon to get all green bits out. Inedible fibers remain in the sieve.

5/ Here is a link to nutritional data about jackfruit leaves. It was made in mind for using jackfruit leaves as goat fodder but why should goats get to enjoy all the nutritional and flavorful glory of jackfruit leaves?

seahipaj.org/journals-ci/sept-

Jackfruit leaf and potato gnocchi.

(They were pan-fried in olive oil after boiling.)

Salad was chioggia beets and leaves, sissoo spinach, Fukushu kumquat peel.

Dressing was kumquat fruit, beet stems, olive oil, parmigiano reggiano, salt

Jackfruit leaf pasta

Fresh pasta dough recipe from the Silver Spoon plus 1 1/2T jackfruit leaf powder (+1 1/2 cashew yogurt to ferment)

Dressing: stems/leaves of red veined sorrel, Fukushu kumquat (whole), olive oil, pasta water, grated piave vecchio, few cranberries, pinch salt

Jackfruit leaf yellow moong dal and jackfruit leaf papadums

Jackfruit leaf powder was fermented with vegan yogurt for both the papadums and the curry. The jackfruit leaves were added at the end of cooking the curry. The leaves taste like matcha green tea but not as intense. Cooked in the dishes, it gave them a dark herbal flavor with hint of zucchini.

4/ Young leaves that are still soft and pliable don’t need to be powdered. They can be steamed, stewed, pickled, stir-fried, etc. They are a little too tough to enjoy raw but heat softens them up.

Below is sweet pickled young jackfruit leaves rolled into onigiri balls.

I don’t recommend using jackfruit leaf powder with onigiri bc it adds texture to the rice as if the rice is bruised and this is a culinary no-no.

3/ The jackfruit leaf powder is very gritty. I’ve tried various methods (soaking in water, salting, shio koji, salting and shoyu or vinegar). It still remained gritty.

The best softener is actually lactobacillus from live cultures in yogurt. I use vegan yogurt. Measure equal parts yogurt to leaf powder and after 40’-hr, the mix becomes melting green goop below.

You can use the goop to make noodles, baking dough, dumplings, etc.

@jblue Wow, your food pics are amazing! At first I was going to simply comment on how I like how your interest hashtags are alphabetized in your profile.

And then I started to scroll down your feed. Just amazing pics. To think this is all from your start with your mom and cancer and starting an organic garden. All that tied together is just so beautiful.

@jblue
Jackfruit grows very well in our local climate. But I had no idea that you can even eat the leaves. I've been eating too much processed food lately and put on weight which I really want to lose. Your food, on the other hand looks delicous.

@ktowngirl @jblue I got the idea from reading that young leaves are steamed and eaten in different cuisines and the mature leaves are used as goat fodder. Why not human fodder since they’re so nutritious? 😆

@jblue it’s my favorite fruit! Do you also use the seeds? I haven’t tried cooking with them yet.

@mysteryharvest yes, they’re very good. They taste like potato. The seeds go bad pretty quickly so if you don’t plan on using them straight away then wash and dry them and store in the freezer.

For cooking them, it’s best to cut the seeds in half and boil with the shells still on. Boiling makes them come off easier. It also allows any seasoning in the water to flavor the seeds. After boiling, then you can peel the shells and stir-fry if you like. Doesn’t need it.

@jblue So I can grow jackfruit in southern NH? (Zone 6A)

How do I start? I don't think I've ever seen seeds or seedlings.

Thanks!

@CharJTF Well, I'm in zone 8 and keep mine in the garage for three months of the year. It doesn't grow very much while in the garage. It mostly grows when it's ouside. I prune it three times for the same amount of leaf produce.

I grew it from seed in a fruit from the grocery store. It is better to get it from the store than seed shops online bc most jackfruit sold in stores is from dwarf fruit and trees. J in the wild can get up to 90lbs and 85 ft high.

@jblue Got it...thanks!

Can you prune it enough without damaging it to keep it to 8-10 feet?

(I appreciate you answering my questions 🙂)

@CharJTF Sure! It can take a hard pruning. Start pruning when it's a few months old. It'll grow 4-5ft in its first few months. Trim it back to 2ft to keep future trims on branches and not trunk. I recommed the book "Grow a little fruit tree." (Ann Ralph)

The tree itself needs to be in a huge pot with at least 35% sand. It needs the sand to ground the tree for when it has fruit so it won't bend and fall over. This makes the pot extremely heavy. I have mine on rollers.

@jblue My hubby made me a roller base last year that we never use. (He thought I might need it. I'm not sure what he thought I might be growing.) Won't he be surprised? LOL

Thanks!

@CharJTF oh dear, he might be the one doing all the heavy lifting.

To keep the tree from sitting in water, I have it on a saucer with rocks. The pic has dried oak pollen/flowers covering everything. I also had a mushroom kit setup but ants invaded it and ate all the mushrooms and made a colony inside the mushroom kit.

@jblue Wow. Note to self: Avoid mushrooms LOL

The base he created for me is about 2' square. And I have pots of all sizes, so that won't be a problem. But yeah, he'll be in charge of the heavy lifting.

If it survives for you in a garage, do you think it would be OK in a greenhouse over the winter? I have a fenced area outside it where it could live during the summer. (So we wouldn't have to move it too far.)

@CharJTF It should be kept above 40F. My garage doesn't get below 42F at it's absolute coldest (20's outside). At prolonged exposure to 40's, it'll show some leaf damage from cold (browning ends of leaves) but will bounce back in the spring.

@jblue OK, thanks! We have a thermometer in the greenhouse, so I'll ask him to tell me the temp was tonight.

@jblue This looks absolutely delicious! Thanks so much for sharing. I had no idea you could eat the leaves of the jackfruit plant too!

@RonjaBiernat yeah, it was really good. The leaf powder tastes like matcha tea but less intense and has a flavor that is hard to describe precisely: dark and herbal. When you cook it for more than 10’ or so, it starts taking on a zucchini flavor.

@jblue your platings and descriptions are always so beautiful!

@jblue the green jackfruit curry I had in Southeast Asia was scrumptious 🍛

@jblue Wow. I didn't know the leaves are edible. I have two jackfruit tree and I am just waiting for them to bear fruits.

@Kai Different cuisines use the young leaves before they turn fibrous and then there is a bunch of academic articles about using the mature leaves as animal fodder and one even analyzed its nutritional content so that’s where I got the idea of powdering mature leaves. It tastes herbal and is pretty nice.