"There
is again another wonderful tree," wrote the pioneer traveler John de
Marignolli in 1350, "called Chake-Baruke, as big as an oak. Its fruit
is produced from the trunk, and not from the branches, and is something
marvelous to see, being as big as a great lamb, or a child of three
years old. It has a hard rind like that of our pine-cones, so that you
have to cut open with a hatchet. The inside has a pulp of surpassing
flavor, with the sweetness of honey, and of the best melon and this
also contains some 500 chestnuts of which are capital eating when
roasted."
Like other early travelers, Marignolli was inclined to exaggerate the merits of the new fruits with which he made acquaintance.
The
jackfruit is not generally considered first-class by Europeans. When
preserved or dried it is better, but in tropical America the fruit is
commonly not eaten except by the poorer classes. In the Orient, where
it has been cultivated since anciant times, it seems to be held in
greater esteem; H. F. Macmillan says that it " forms a very important
article of food with the natives of the Eastern tropics." Both
Theophrastus and Pliny, early writers who mentioned the jackfruit, give
the same impression; Pliny describes it as the fruit "whereof the
Indian Sages and Philosophers do ordinarily live."
The jackfruit
is less exacting in its cultural requirements than its congener the
breadfruit, and since it resists cool weather much better it is adapted
to cultivation over a wider area.
The tree is large, stately,
and handsome; under favorable conditions it may reach a height of 60 to
70 feet. The leaves are oblong, oval, or elliptic in form, 4 to 6
inches in length, leathery, glossy, and deep green in color. The
flowers resemble those of the breadfruit; except that the pistillate or
female blossoms are commonly produced directly on the bark of the trunk
and larger limbs. The fruit is one of the largest in the world. Some
writers affirm that specimens have been known to weigh 80 pounds,
although half this is a safer estimate. They vary from oval to oblong,
and are sometimes 2 feet in length. The surface is studded with short
hard points, and is pale green in the immature fruit, becoming greenish
yellow and then brownish as ripening progresses.
Tje fruit is
divided inside into many rounded small cavities each containing a
seed surrounded by soft brownish pulp of pungent odor and
aromatic flavor somewhat suggesting the banana. Thomas Firminger
speaks rather discouragingly of this fruit.
He says:
"By those who can manage to eat it, it is considered
most delicious, and possessing the rich spicy flavor and scent of the
melon, but to such a powerful degree as to be quite unbearable to
persons of weak stomach, or to those unaccustomed to it."
The
tree grows wild in the mountains of India and is ordinarily considered
indigenous to that country. Alphonse DeCandolle believed that its
cultivation probably did not antedate the Christian era.
At the
present day it is common in many parts of India, particularly in lower
Bengal, and Macmillian observes that it has become semi-naturalized in
Ceylon. In the Malayan region it is a common fruit-tree.
The
worthy Father Tavares states that it was introduced into Brazil by the
Portuguese about the middle of the seventeenth century.
It is now abundant in many parts of that country, William Harris
1 gives the following introduction into Jamaica:
"It
was amongst the plants found on board the French ship bound from the
Isle of Bourbon to Santo Domingo, which was captured by Captain
Marshall of H. M. S. Flora, one of Lord Rodney's squadron, in June,
1782, and was sent to Mr. Hinton East's garden in Gordon Town. It was
again introduced in the early part of 1793 when Captain Bligh of H. M.
S. Providence brought it with other plants from the island
of Timor in the Malay Archipelago. particularly about Bahia.
The tree is common all over the island, and naturalized in the
Cockpit country."
1 Bull. Botanical Dept., 3, 1910.
In Hawaii it is not abundant. It has never
been a success in California, the climate having proved too cold for
it. In southern Florida, however, there are several fruiting trees, but
on the shallow soils of that region they do not grow to large size, and
the fruits which have been produced were not of good quality.
The
species is probably too strictly tropical in its requirements to be
entirely successful in any part of this country. Concerning the origin
of the name jackfruit, which is known to be an English adaptation of
the Portuguese jaca, Yule and Burnell say: "Rheede rightly gives tsjaka
(chakka) as the Malayalam name, and from this no doubt the Portuguese
took jaca and handed it on to us."
Kanthal, kathal, yanasa, and
kantaka
are some of the vernacular names used in India. The French call it
jacque. The orthography of the common English name might better be
jakfruit, and indeed this spelling is employed by some writers, but the
commoner form jackfruit will probably be hard to displace.
Artocarpus Integra, L., is a botanical synonym.
The fruit is eaten fresh, or it may be preserved in sirup, dried like the fig. Thomas Firminger writes :
"If
the edible pulp of the fruit be taken out and boiled in some fresh
milk, and then be strained off, the milk will, on becoming cold, form a
thick jelly-like substance of the consistency of blanc-mange, of a fine
orange color, and of melon-like flavor.
Treated in this way the
fruit affords a very agreeable dish for the table." Father Tavares has
this warning: It must be eaten when full ripe; and not at
meal times; a cup of cool water should be taken immediately afterwards,
never wine or other fermented drink, since these, when combined with
the jaca, are poisonous." He adds that the seeds, boiled or roasted,
are very pleasant and that they are used, pulverized, in making
biscuits. The ripe fruits are often fed to cattle in Brazil.
Alice
R. Thompson of Hawaii has found the edible portion or pulp to contain:
Total solids 23.20 per cent, ash 0.93, acids 0.27, protein
1.44, total sugars 1.87, fat 0.24, fiber 1.80, and
hydrolyzable carbohydrates other than sucrose 23.53. 15.15, fat 0.45,
and fiber 1.3. The seed was found to contain: Total solids 50.82 per
cent, ash 3.49, acids 0.16, protein 5.44, total sugars Thus it
will be seen that the pulp rather high in protein and fiber and low in
acids. The seeds have a high starch-content and very little sugar,
while the protein-content is about 5 per cent.
The climatic
requirements of the jackfruit consist in abundant precipitation and
freedom from severe frosts. Probably it can be grown by the aid of
irrigation in regions where there is little rainfall. Mature trees have
passed through temperatures of about 27° above zero in southern
Florida, but they were frozen to the large limbs. Though temperatures
below freezing kill young trees and injure old ones, the jackfruit is
not, like its congener the breadfruit, injured by cool weather several
degrees above freezing. It prefers a rich, deep, and moist soil, but
can be grown successfully on shallow and light soils such as some of
those of southern Florida. In Brazil it grows well on clay and on sandy
loam. Very little attention is given to cultural methods in the regions
where the jackfruit is commonly grown. Like the breadfruit, it succeeds
without much care from man, the sole necessity being abundant moisture.
Propagation
is by seeds, which should be planted soon after their removal from
the fruit. The method of propagation by means of root-cuttings or
suckers, which is practiced with the seedless breadfruit, is said not
to be successful with this species.
According to Paul Hubert,
young trees come into bearing when five years of age. It is doubtful,
however, whether they can be depended on to fruit so early. Thomas
Firminger writes: "The jackfruit is not borne, like most other
fruits are, from the ends of branches, but upon stout footstalks
projecting from the main trunk and thickest branches of the tree. In no
other way, indeed, could its ponderous weight be sustained. The
situation of the fruit, moreover, is said to vary the with age of the
tree; being first borne on the branches, then on the trunk, and in old
trees on the roots. Those borne on the roots, which discover themselves
by the cracking earth above them, are held in the highest
estimation." When grown in a cool climate the fruits are of
inferior quality. The ripening season extends over several months.
Paul Hubert states that
Batocera rubra
L. attacks the tree in some regions. This insect, which is a cerambycid
beetle, causes much damage to fig trees in India by boring in their
trunks,and probably works on the jackfruit in the same manner. The
larva of a moth,
Perina nuda F., is said by H. Maxwell Lefroy to feed on the jackfruit throughout India.
"Of
this tree," says the excellent Rheede, "they reckon more than thirty
varieties, distinguished by the quality of their fruits, but all may be
reduced to two kinds; the fruit of one is distinguished by plump and
succulent pulp of excellent flavor, being the Varaka; that of the
other, filled with softer, and more flabby pulp of inferior
flavor, being the Tsjakapa." This classification is borne out by more
modern writers. Thomas Firminger speaks of the hard and soft kinds, and
the same two forms are known in Brazil.
H. F. Macmillan gives the following resume of the subject:
"Jak-fruit
occurs in several varieties, the two most distinct Ceylon being: (1)
'Waraka,' distinguished by a firm fruit, which the natives recognize by
the sound when fiicked with the fingers; (2) 'Vela,' characterized by
its softer rind, through which the finger may be thrust when
approaching ripeness, the pulp being less sweet than that of the former
variety. Of these there are several sub varieties, as 'Kuru-waraka'
(with small and almost round fruit), and Peni-waraka ('honey jak'),
which has a sweetish pulp. A variety called 'Johore jak,' with hairy
leaves and a small oblong fruit with a most overpowering odor, is
greatly esteemed by those who eat the fruit."
Since these
"varieties" are propagated by seed, they should properly be termed
races. Of true horticultural varieties, propagated vegetatively, there
are none.
The Breadfruit, Manual Of Tropical And Subtropical Fruits
The Marang, Manual Of Tropical And Subtropical Fruits