Friday, June 19, 2009

Jackfruits (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

Here is my neighbour's jackfruit tree! This tree is about 30 years old - my neighbour was given a jackfruit by a friend and after eating the fruit she sowed about ten of the seeds in her backyard. Soon there were 10 little saplings and one of them was allowed to grow into this sturdy tree. It did not bear fruit for the first few years though, until one day they poured a whole lot of manure (courtesy the milkman's cow i'm sure!) around its roots. And then there was no turning back! From 4-5 fruits that summer, the tree went on to yield 40-50 fruits every year.



Sadly the upper branches had to be cut when the house was renovated, but it still stands firm and continues to bear fruit every year. The tree had one fruit on it when i took this picture (we did our bit to help eat the rest!) and here it is.




Here is another tree from the backyard. This one too was trimmed many a time. Because of the nicks and cuts, the tree now bears fruits in clusters of two instead of single ones. This isnt too good - the fruits dont grow as well when they compete for space and sometimes ripen early because of the constamt contact with each other.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there:

I just saw pictures of our jackfruit trees on your blog. I was amazed at the sheer breadth of all that you have uploaded and may I compliment you on the extremely well written textual content that cuts across the several pages that I went through this morning.

Best wishes..SL

Anonymous said...

I am reminded about that huge "Naga pazham" tree in our neighbour's house in what used to be 56 First Main Road. That tree used to bear literally thousands of berry like fruit. The fruit will stain your toungue and teeth with a blue or purple colour (like red wine) if you eat too much. Unfortunately this tree was cut down to make room for the some apartments that you see today (forget the name of the building). It was one of the tastiest fruit I have eaten anywhere (also heard that naga pazham is loaded with anti-oxidants).

treehuggerdaddy said...

I think this may be what I have eaten here in the states at Indian/Sri Lankan restaurants? If so, it tastes different than it looks.

A. said...

it looks quite different on the outside compared to the inside - it is not prickly at all and is a bright yellow. i ate them all up before i could take pictures :)!