Joy of jackfruit is its versatility
Try it as a meat substitute. Health,
If you’re looking to replace meat with a healthier alternative, look no further than the jackfruit.
The jackfruit is a tropical fruit, and it’s the largest fruit that grows on trees. When cracked open, it has a few yellow bulbs inside – those are the parts that are edible. We’ve seen jackfruit used mostly as a meat substitute in vegan recipes because of its texture.
Despite its intimidating size and rigid exterior, the jackfruit is manageable and easy to cook with, especially if you buy it canned.
According to a restaurant industry report, jackfruit’s popularity increased by 131 percent last year.
Since gaining traction, jackfruit has become easier to find in stores, either in cans or as packaged food that’s already seasoned with anything from thai curry to chili lime carnitas.
So how does a giant fruit become a stand-in for meat?
Because of its shreddable texture and bland flavor, jackfruit can be cooked and seasoned to resemble barbecue pulled pork or carnitas.
That texture and mild flavor makes it easy to absorb seasoning or spices, says Haile Thomas, a health activist and vegan food and lifestyle influencer.
She likes using jackfruit to make pulled-pork recipes. “If you’re purchasing a jackfruit whole, all you do is remove the seeds and the bulbs and shred the chunks in a pan with some olive oil and spices,” she says.
Jasmine Briones, a vegan blogger at Sweet Simple Vegan, agrees that the tropical fruit is easy to work with, but you can’t just treat it the exact same way you would with meat.
“Since it is pretty flavorless to begin with, you can really use it with any seasoning to bring it to life,” Briones says. “It is not an ingredient that you can just pour sauce on and use it as a meat substitute. But rather, it is best to simmer it in sauce to be sure that it soaks into the jackfruit.”
Although the jackfruit can be used to substitute meat with such dishes as shredded barbecue pork or carnitas, it’s not exactly a perfect trade-off. The fruit isn’t going to taste exactly like meat and it won’t have the same nutritional components.
“Like all meat substitutes (or at least the reasonably unprocessed ones), it doesn’t have the same flavor, exactly,” says Coco Morante, author of “The Essential Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook.”
“I wouldn’t tuck into a big plate of it on its own expecting a perfect substitute. It works best when used in recipes and layered with other flavorful ingredients.”
Morante notes that jackfruit also doesn’t have a lot of protein, so it’s advisable to add another protein source to your meal for a well-balanced dish.
While the tropical fruit may not be exactly what you want for your carnitas tacos, Thomas says, it shouldn’t turn you off from at least trying it.
“I don’t think it has to be identical to pork, just trying something different,” she says. “But the texture is great. It’s something you can play around with.”