Most of the households in Kerala boast a jackfruit tree in their backyards.
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“Here, look at the size of this. Now tell me where to place it?” The triumph on my husband’s face as he carried the huge jackfruit into the gate of my maternal home was worth watching. My mother was taken aback. She had not known he had such a craze for the fruit. My husband was always eloquent about the nutrients in this fruit and was especially fond of a mashed dish, chakka puzhukku, made out of it. So he was looking forward to it when he came for his yearly vacation from the UAE. Unfortunately, the jackfruits in his house and my maternal home were tender and would take at least a month to mature and he was frustrated.
It was a joy going on morning walks with him and we would see jackfruit trees laden with fruit, which he would look on longingly. There was this one tree which was not within any compound wall and there werethree mature fruits on it. One fruit that had ripened and fallen off on the road had been run over by several vehicles. He ventured to ask the neighbouring household if they knew the owners of the land. They said the owners hardly ever visited and they did not have any contact details with them. So that hope too diminished. But once my husband sets his mind on something, there was no turning back. He found a tree laden with the fruit in the front yard of another house on our walking route. He asked the owner tending to his garden if they could spare a fruit. He said he would pay for it and thus we got our fruit.
My sisters and their families too were present at my maternal home and we had a grand time plucking out the bulbs, chatting and laughing. It was with great relish that we had lunch that day with chakka puzhukku and fish curry. Anyone who have been to Kerala can vouch for the popular dish made of jackfruit. Our entire family is a fan of this dish prepared out of mashed raw jackfruit and ground coconut, garlic, cumin, and turmeric.
Having lived outside Kerala for most of our lives, we would plan our vacations in such a way that we would be there for the jackfruit season. Chips made out of the raw fruit get devoured in minutes. When ripe, we consume it eagerly as it is and also do love the halwa. During our childhood days when we visited our native town during the holidays, our grandmother would gather everyone to make lots of halwa over wood fire. We children loved watching the men churn out the halwa in a large skillet (uruli) placed over wood fire made outdoors. They sometimes prepared it in wholesale quantities for household functions too.
During the jackfruit season, sometimes the breakfast was another delicacy, chakka appam, in which the ripe fruit was shredded, mixed with coconut and jaggery and wrapped in kneaded rice flour. This would be rolled into a bayleaf and steamed.
Most of the households in Kerala boast a jackfruit tree in their backyards and they have enough fruits to spare for the neighbours. Later, when we acquired our own home in Kochi, we had a jackfruit tree in the front yard. The previous owner had said that it was a grafted variety, which brought forth fruit within a year. I often would scour the tree to see if there was any sign of it being fruitful. However, even after two years there was no fruit and so my husband decided to axe it, stating it would harm the building. If it had produced at least one fruit, I could have defended the tree and so was sad to see it go. Later on, we got a grafted Vietnam jackfruit tree and within one year, it looked promising with flowers developing. The first one that came up rotted away and I felt sad. But when I looked it up, I came to know that there are male and female flowers. Now I am looking forward to at least one fruit that will grow to its full potential. Watching the progress of the tree is fun and keeps me hopeful.
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