Weird Fruit Found at Kentucky Grocery Store Tastes Like Pulled Pork
While I was doing my weekly grocery shopping last week, I came across one of the strangest fruits I have ever seen. It was sitting by some other exotic fruits in the produce section of a Meijer in Owensboro, KY.
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What in the world was it? Have you heard about, seen, or eaten this fruit? I had to find out all I could about the mysterious fruit. What I found out, was not what I expected.
What is a jackfruit?
To me, it looked so crazy. The fruit looked like a huge seed, not a fruit at all. So, what kind of fruit was it?
The jackfruit, also known as the jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family. Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats of southern India, all of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the rainforests of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
What does jackfruit taste like?
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The meat of the fruit looks, very much, like a mango. In my mind, I imagine it tastes like a cross between a mango and cantaloupe.
Ripe jackfruit...has a sweet flavor. The taste is similar to other tropical fruits like mango or pineapple and makes a great addition to smoothies.
Ok, that makes sense. But, as I researched further, I found something that made no sense at all.
Apparently, when you shred the meat of the jackfruit and boil it down, it tastes like pulled pork. Yep, it is often used as a meat substitute.
Does jackfruit really taste like meat?
Ok, this jackfruit fact blew my mind. How? How can a fruit taste like meat?
The jackfruit texture is not dissimilar to a banana, mango, or pineapple in terms of being dense and fibrous. But the taste is quite distinctive. Some say it's sweet, and some say a jackfruit has a flavor similar to pulled pork, especially when cooked.
This YouTube chef turns a whole jackfruit into BBQ Pulled Pork.
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