Breadfruit- A Close Look

Yesterday, when I was shopping in a grocery store, I spotted a round green sphere on a grocery stand. It was labeled as Breadfruit (Cooking). I was curious. I have never seen this stuff before. As it was labeled as breadfruit, it must be one of the kinds of fruits. Why it was labeled as “cooking” with bracket? A lady customer came and picked up one breadfruit. For curiosity, I asked her how to cook the fruit. She was very nice and told me right away, “You have to cook it in an oven for one and half hour at 350°F” .Then I turned around and took one breadfruit and put it in my basket. I thought I just cook it in an oven for one and half hour. It’s not a big deal. I couldn’t wait and tried to rush home to start cooking the sphere. The same lady met me again in a corner of the grocery store. She touched my chosen breadfruit in my basket. She said, “Since it is soft and small, just cook for 30 to 35 minutes at 350°F”.

After paying my bill, I couldn’t wait to fly home. When I arrived home, the first thing was to put the breadfruit in the oven. During the cooking time, I turned on my computer to search for information of breadfruit. From Wikipedia, I found a good piece of information of breadfruit. It tells us the main constituents of breadfruit are 25% carbohydrates and 75% water. There is a reasonable amount of Vitamin C and Vitamin B1. There is a small amount of potassium and zinc as well.

I like trying new stuff. Although the price for breadfruit is $1.99 per lb., I am willing to give it a try for curiosity. I tried to grab the smallest one. It weighs around 1.5 to 2 lbs. That’s around $4 to give a try!

I couldn’t wait to take out the cooked breadfruit. When I opened the door of the oven, I perched a ‘mix’ smell of guava and mango. The smell is very special and fantastic. It’s more or less aromatic. We finished half of the fruit and put the other half back to the oven to cook for another 15 minutes. During these 15 minutes, I went back to my computer. I discovered the leaves of the breadfruit have a whole bunch of medicinal effects. The ash of the roasted breadfruit leaves is even anti-bacterial. The leaves are helpful for gum infections too.

The leaves of breadfruit are much more valuable in medicinal effect than the main fruit itself. I hope scientists will, in the future, spend more time on the study of the leaves. If budget is permitted, researchers are suggested to research on some more plants with medicinal values.

I was told that you have to cook the breadfruit before you eat. The reason is that the fresh fruit itself is purgative. The fruit itself, if not cooked properly, is toxic. This is due to the sterol-like substance inside the fruit. The toxicity of this substance is minimized by high temperature. People cook the breadfruit with other fruit too. You can check with the recipe posted by gourmets.

One point I don’t know when Wikipedia reveals that breadfruit contains 25% carbohydrates. Are these carbohydrates simple sugars or complex sugars? Is it suitable for the Diabetes? I hope readers can give me a clue after reading my hub.