JACK FRUIT- A NUTRITIOUS VEGITABLE

                              Jack Fruit-- a  Nutritious Vegetable

  Jack fruit is ntritious and most parts of which can be put to good use in the Kitchen is being totally shunned by Keralities, and is a tree which could be spoted in every back yard of our houses. It is a little difficult fruit to handle it alright, but the range of products that can be made out of the Jack fruit is amazing.
  Countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka, where Jack fruit are a plenty, have developed an entire range of value-added products, with excellent marketing facilities too.
   We should make at least an effort to understand the good uses of wholesome  fruit that we have grown to neglect totally.
   The Shantigram, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), that is all set to organise a national Jack fruit festival in Thiruvananthapuram by the end of May,2011. A range of value added products will be on display and cookery contests will be held as part of the event. As a precursor to the event, Shantigram had organised a three-day local Jack fruit festival at Chapath,, Vizhinjam, where scores of woman,men and Kudumbsree groups were given training in making value -added products out of Jack fruit. The training programme was led by a team from" Uravu" an NGO in Wayanad that has been instrumental in popularizing indigenous technologies and crafts by working with local tribes and other marginalized section of people.
  Jack fruit turned in to Jam, Pickle, Unniyappam, Bajji, Sip-up, wine, Jelly,Jack fruit papada's and a host of Payasams and spicy curries. This is one fruit which can be eaten a safely because it is totally pesticide-free. Several varieties  of the Jack fruit tree, like the ones which give year-round fruits and another,variety that has  absolutely no t6hrons on the fruit skin, have been developed. But many in Kerala consider it a shame to be even seen taking the fruit in home"
  The Keralites do not seen to think seriously about cultivation Jack fruit, hence much of the seasonal fruit goies waste  in the state.  But just across the border, at Panruti in Cuddallore district in Tamil Nadu, large Jack fruit orchards thrive under the loving care of farmers, who see the fruit earning them a steady income of Rs 60,000 per acre. The Panruti Jack fruit, some weighing over 60 to 70 kg each, is quite famous in the markets of Mumbai, where truck loads of the fruit arrive from Panruti.
   In fact, the cashew farmers in Panruti are now switching to farming Jack fruit because the drought- resistant, even green tree requires no attention. The crop proves to involve zero-labour cost, yet brings plentiful harvest

Prof.John Kurakar.