Bearing the world’s largest fruit also known as the Cinderella of fruits, jackfruit is native to India, originated in the Western Ghats of India. Jackfruit (Artocarpus aheterophyllus) is one of the largest crops from the family of Moracea. In India, major jackfruit growing states are Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Bihar. Jackfruit is the state fruit of Kerala. Jack tree produces abundant fruit every year and is usually grown organically in homesteads and secondary forest regions without the application of additional care and farming practices. The fruit has a delicious taste, flavour, colour, and excellent nutritional quality, which make jackfruit more appropriate for processing and value addition. The annual production of jackfruit in Kerala is 190.14 thousand tonnes. At the same time, the annual wastage of the state amounts to 35 crore jackfruits approximately. During the harvesting season jackfruit available in plenty at nominal prices. Suitable value addition will make jackfruit available in the off-season and also provide additional income to farmers and processors. The Jackfruit is a multi-purpose species providing food, timber, fuel, fodder, medicinal and industrial products. The primary economic product of Jackfruit is the fruit which is used both when mature and unripe. Every part of the fruit and tree has health and economic value. Jackfruit seeds (nuts) can be roasted like chestnuts, or boiled. The fruit pulp is sweet and tasty and is used as a dessert or preserved in syrup. The fruits and seeds are also processed in a variety of ways for food and other products. Jackfruit value-added products include chips, papads, pickles, ice cream, jelly, sweets, beverages like squash, nectar, wine, and preserved flakes, etc. Additionally, Jackfruit leaves, bark, inflorescence, seeds, and latex are used in traditional medicines. The wood of the tree is also used for various purposes. It is a nutritious fruit that is rich in carbohydrates, proteins, potassium, calcium, iron, and vitamins A, B, and C. Due to high levels of carbohydrates; jackfruit supplements other staple foods in times of scarcity in some regions. The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy and fibrous and is a source of dietary fibre.

Value Additions in Jackfruit

Jackfruit, one of the underutilized fruit, has got the immense potential for value addition. A wide variety of items can be prepared from jackfruit right from immature stage to well-ripened stage. Each item has its own qualities in terms of taste, preference, shelf-life, etc. Because of its heaviness and large size, transportation and packaging are huge impediments to the successful marketing of jackfruit. Therefore, value-added products have more relevance for the commercial utility rather than the whole fruit. Jackfruit can be preserved by applying various techniques like drying, freezing, canning, or by converting it into various products.

Novel & Traditional Jackfruit Products

1. Vacuum Fried Chips

Jackfruit chips are an immensely popular snack in Kerala, prepared by deep frying from fully mature and unripe jackfruit with a normal shelf life of more than a month. These chips are made with coconut oil commonly. In conventional frying, a higher frying temperature causes the charring of the fruit. High oil absorption and darkening of colour during deep-fat frying could be reduced significantly in Vacuum frying technology which is suitable for frying sugar-rich materials. It is carried out at pressures well below atmospheric level. It serves to reduce oil content, discolouration, and losses of vitamins and other compounds, normally associated with oxidation and high-temperature processing. Vacuum frying can be done with both matured and ripe jackfruit to produce a bright yellow and crunchy product. Oil retains its properties without change since low temperature and pressure are involved in the process thus the oil can be reused more than 60 times for vacuum frying through this technique. Nearly 90 % of oil use could be reduced compared to convention frying, making it a healthy alternative to conventional frying.

2. Jackfruit flour

The flour prepared by milling dried jackfruit bulbs extends the shelf life of jackfruit. Flour from matured bulbs has a yellowish-white colour. This can be used as an ingredient in many of the dishes like puttu, idly, chapati, kumbilappam, upma, pappad, etc. Jackfruit flour, as it is diabetic-friendly and gluten-free, can be used along with wheat flour for making soft chapattis and as a fortifier in every dish. Moreover, the nutritious fibre content in this flour can have several health benefits.

3. Ready to cook mature jackfruit

Mature jackfruit bulbs can be stored for a long time by the drying method. The packed RTC jackfruit extends the shelf life of jackfruit. It can be rehydrated and used for the preparation of dishes in offseason too. RTC jackfruit also gives additional income to farmers and processors.

4. Retorted Tender Jackfruit (Technology for tender jackfruit in cans/retort pouches)

Processing of tender jackfruit as a vegetable can give a quality product that fetches better price in the market and thus help to improve the financial status of the jackfruit growers in the state. Processed jackfruit products have an excellent market on the domestic and export front. The tender jackfruit from both ‘varikka’ and ‘koozha’ varieties were minimally processed and canned. The tender jackfruit is cleaned and cut into pieces, blanched, and sealed in cans/retort pouches along with preservatives. These are subjected to retort processing. The retort processed tender jackfruit is shelf-stable for one year without any changes in its nutritive value. The canned tender jackfruit resembles fresh jackfruit and is made available to the consumers in ready-to-eat form throughout the year. For preserving the tender jackfruit, the canning process protocol was developed at Agri Business Incubator, Kerala Agricultural University. This is a blooming technology in the food industry and a promising technology that is accepted by consumers.

5. Osmo-dried jackfruit

The ripening of jackfruit changes its texture. Softening of jackfruit bulbs adds more taste to the jackfruit. Different value-added products can be prepared from ripe jackfruit. One of the major traditional practices of preserving ripe jackfruits is dehydration. Jackfruit can be dried successfully to a sweet fruit snack. Dried jackfruit can be prepared easily through the process of osmotic dehydration of ripe jackfruit.

Osmotic dehydration of the fruits is one of the food preservation techniques used for partial removal of water from fruits by immersing in aqueous solutions of high osmotic pressure viz., sugar and salts. Intermediate moisture foods (IMF) are one of the major attractions in the current food market as this technology could preserve seasonally available fruits for a long period. This could be prepared by a two-stage drying process i.e. osmotic dehydration followed by any other secondary drying.

Osmo-dried jackfruit is an intermediate moisture food product, and is not only delicious but also conserves attractive colour and nutritional elements. This processed product has a six-month shelf life, which could reduce the wastage of surplus ripened jackfruit. The ripe jackfruit bulbs are deseeded and soaked in sugar syrup for osmotic dehydration and further dried using a cabinet dryer. The processing conditions like soaking time, the temperature of drying were also standardized. The second stage of drying could be done either by traditional drying, solar drying, cabinet drying, vacuum drying, or any other modern drying methods viz; fluidized drying, microwave drying, freeze-drying, etc.

6. Jackfruit ‘Varatty’/‘Halwa’

The ‘varatty’/ ‘halwa’ can be prepared from ripe jackfruit pulp. Fruit pulper and concentrator can be utilised for the preparation of ‘varatty’ or ‘halwa’ with minimum time and efficiently. ‘Varatty’ can be preserved for three months by retort processing. ‘Varatty’ prepared from jackfruit is filled into retort pouches and then thermally treated for extension of shelf life.

7. Jackfruit Seed Powder

Jackfruit seeds are rich in nutrients and can be a supplement for wheat flour to some extent. Replacement of the wheat flour with jackfruit seed flour will give gluten-free products option. So, jackfruit seed powder is used to prepare cookies along with rice bran. The combination of wheat, jackfruit seed powder, and rice bran will give better acceptability. It is one of the best tastemakers for a healthy life. It can be fortified with flours of ragi, maize, rice, and banana and used for the preparation of pasta.

(Content shared by Dr. K. P. Sudheer, Kerala Agricultural University)