Super food: Breadfruit
Before I lived in DC, I lived and traveled throughout Micronesia. I spent most of my time in the Marshall Islands on the capitol atoll, Majuro, as well as a very crowded islet called Ebeye, in the Kwajalein Atoll. (The Republic of the Marshall Islands is about a 5 hour plane ride west of Hawaii.) I first ate breadfruit when I lived in the Marshall Islands, but after that, I began to notice breadfruit trees all over Guam and Hawaii. The importance of breadfruit is obvious in island folk tales. In a Hawaiian legend, Ku saves his family from starvation by burying himself and growing into a healthy breadfruit tree. In the Marshall Islands, two boys lost a canoe race against a bird spirit who then threw them in a pit. They survived by eating the fruit from a nearby breadfruit tree.I shouldn't be terribly surprised that breadfruit is loved the world over. Like bread or potatoes, there are so many different ways to eat this Superfood. Caribbean-style breadfruit is much more flavorful than in the Pacific Islands where it’s blander or perhaps slightly sweet when mixed with coconut milk. Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a type of mulberry tree that grows throughout tropical and subtropical regions like Nigeria, Hawaii, Samoa, and Jamaica. The tree produces large, oblong fruit with prickly skin the size of a football. Named for the texture of the cooked fruit, breadfruit has a similar taste to freshly baked bread. It is a starchy fruit with a similar taste and texture to potatoes, high in carbohydrates and potassium as well as low in fat. Mature breadfruit trees can grow to heights of 25 m (80 ft) and bear fruit for decades.
I loved "island” life and I came to associate “island” food with fish, barbeque chicken, breadfruit, coconut, and tropical fruits. Everything from rice and breadfruit to fish and bananas was cooked in coconut milk or crème. As it is in many islands, traditional fare is not only more affordable but more nutritious and tasty: breadfruit, taro, pandanus, banana, papaya, coconut and fish. I did not particularly care for pandanus, though I ate it often. The pandanus fruit grew to be 20-30 pounds big with sections that you tear off and gnaw on. Breadfruit, however, was the most common food second only to coconut.
This fruit is very filling but in my experience in the Pacific Islands it tends to be very bland. The breadfruit is usually roasted over a fire and occasionally cooked in the oven. Sometimes it is cooked and then cut up and prepared like potato salad. I like my breadfruit best as bwiro, preserved breadfruit mashed up into a pulpy paste and wrapped in coconut leaves. If it isn't cooked with coconut milk, it unfortunately tended to taste more like play-dough. The breadfruit is peeled, cored, cut up and buried underground in a cloth bag from as short as 3 days to as long as several years. The bag of fermented fruit is then immersed in the fast moving salt water to break up the pulp. The bag is then kneaded until the all the water is worked out of the pulp. This process is repeated once more with salt water and a third time with freshwater. Each small amount of pulp is then worked back and forth until it is nice and soft. It is then boiled for a few minutes in coconut milk and sweetened with sugar. To top it off, the milk is boiled down until thick and poured over the breadfruit as a crème.
Jamaicans also love to eat breadfruit; however it’s prepared a little differently. It is also roasted, baked, or prepared like potato wedges. Breadfruit chips are always very delicious—thin slices of breadfruit fried crispy. If the slices aren't too thin, eating breadfruit chips can be like biting into a thin piece of buttery bread. However, in Jamaica, breadfruit is cooked more like potato wedges. Jamaicans often eat breadfruit roasted with Ackee, cooked with Salt fish and stir-fried with codfish for breakfast. After the breadfruit has already been roasted and cored, it can be cut into 1” thick segments. After lightly rubbing the breadfruit slices in seasoning, they will then be fried in hot oil until golden. It will be thicker then fried breadfruit chips and more flavorful. It would be a great alternative to fries. From the Caribbean to Micronesia, breadfruit is enjoyed the world over. It can be difficult but not impossible to find fresh breadfruit locally. Be sure to try the breadfruit on your next trip to Hawaii or try some breadfruit at your local Jamaican restaurant! Let us know what you think of this superfood in the comments below.
Melanie Carbine, writer, teacher, and world traveler, lived in Micronesia for three years. She currently teaches in Washington, D.C.
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