Wednesday 21 September 2011

Another Exotic Fruit - Breadfruit

It took me awhile to really spot breadfruit tree and differentiate it from the breadnut tree. And the only way to see the difference is by picking the fruit or looking at the tree closely.
This is how the breadfruit fruit looks like:

So, as you can see the breadfruit is quite smooth, though still a bit bumpy and it doesn't have spikes. It's also seedless and that's another big difference between the breadfruit and the breadnut.
Eaten fried, roasted, or boiled the fruit is high in carbohydrates and a source of Vitamins A, B, C. This fruit was brought over from Africa to feed the slaves in the sugar cane plantations. As for how it came to the Caribbean - it was Captain Bligh. It was introduced into the West Indies in 1793 from Tahiti. Captain Bligh in the ship Providence, brought plans to St-Vincent and Jamaica after an early attempt failed aboard the mutiny ship Bounty in 1789. It spread very quickly all over the Caribbean because of the high carbohydrates contents as well as its cheap price and high nutrition.
The taste of this fruit is similar to sweet white mashed potatoes, but it's sweeter and has a consistency of pudding.

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