Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) or popularly known as Kolo or Rimas here in the Philippines, is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, that is a native of the Pacific Islands. Its name is derived from the fact that, when cooked, the fruit of the breadfruit tree has a potato-like flavor, similar to fresh-baked bread.
The ancestors of the Polynesians found the trees growing in the northwest New Guinea area around 3500 years ago. They gave up the rice cultivation they had brought with them from ancient Taiwan, and raised breadfruit wherever they went in the Pacific (except Easter Island and New Zealand which were too cold). Their ancient eastern Indonesian cousins spread the plant west and north through Insular and coastal Southeast Asia. It has, in historic times, also been widely planted in tropical regions elsewhere.
Breadfruit trees grow to a height of 85 feet (26 m). The large and thick leaves are deeply cut into pinnate lobes. The grapefruit-sized ovoid fruit has a rough surface, and each fruit is divided into many achenes, each achene surrounded by a fleshy perianth and growing on a fleshy receptacle. Some selectively bred cultivars have seedless fruit. Breadfruit is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more fruits per season. Productivity varies between wet and dry areas.
Breadfruit can be eaten once cooked, or can be further processed into a variety of other foods. A common product is a mixture of cooked or fermented breadfruit mash mixed with coconut milk and baked in banana leaves. Whole fruits can be cooked in an open fire, then cored and filled with other foods such as coconut milk, sugar and butter, cooked meats, or other fruits. The filled fruit can be further cooked so that the flavor of the filling permeates the flesh of the breadfruit.
Breadfruit is low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium and very high in Vitamin C, Dietary Fiber and Potassium. The nutritional value of breadfruit helps you to maintain optimum health. Breadfruit has been considered as a nutritionally beneficial fruit.
How to grow Breadfruit
Breadfruit health benefits:
- Bread fruit provides high energy to those who eat it through its carbohydrate, mainly needed by the body for warmth and maintenance during daily activities.
- The fiber present in breadfruit helps to make the intestines and bowels work properly by clearing out the junk from the intestines.
- The dried fruit has been made into flour which is much richer than wheat flour and other essential amino acids.
Climate
The breadfruit is ultra-tropical, much tenderer than the mango tree. It has been reported that it requires a temperature range of 60° to 100°F (15.56°-37.78°C), an annual rainfall of 80 to 100 in (203-254 cm), and a relative humidity of 70 to 80%. However, in southern India, it is cultivated at sea level and up humid slopes to an altitude of 3,500 ft (1,065 m), also in thickets in dry regions where it can be irrigated. In the “equatorial dry climate” of the Marquesas, where the breadfruit is an essential crop, there is an average rainfall of only 40 to 60 in (100-150 cm) and frequent droughts. In Central America, it is grown only below 2,000 ft (600m).
Soil
According to many reports, the breadfruit tree must have deep, fertile, well-drained soil. But some of the best authorities on South Pacific plants point out that the seedless breadfruit does well on sandy coral soils, and seeded types grow naturally on “coraline limestone” islands in Micronesia. In New Guinea, the breadfruit tree occurs wild along waterways and on the margins of forests in the flood plain, and often in freshwater swamps. It is believed that there is great variation in the adaptability of different strains to climatic and soil conditions, and that each should be matched with its proper environment. The Tahitian ‘Manitarvaka’ is known to be drought-resistant. The variety ‘Mai-Tarika’, of the Gilbert Islands, is salt-tolerant. ‘Mejwaan’, a seeded variety of the Marshall Islands, is not harmed by brackish water nor salt spray and has been introduced into Western Samoa and Tahiti.
Propagation
The seeded breadfruit is always grown from seeds, which must be planted when fairly fresh as they lose viability in a few weeks. The seedless breadfruit is often propagated by transplanting suckers which spring up naturally from the roots. One can deliberately induce suckers by uncovering and injuring a root. Pruning the parent tree will increase the number of suckers, and root pruning each sucker several times over a period of months before taking it up will contribute to its survival when transplanted. For multiplication in quantity, it is better to make root cuttings about 1 to 2 1/2 in (2.5-6.35 cm) thick and 9 in (22 cm) long. The ends may be dipped into a solution of potassium permanganate to coagulate the latex, and the cuttings are planted close together horizontally in sand. They should be shaded and watered daily, unless it is possible to apply intermittent mist. Calluses may form in 6 weeks (though rooting time may vary from 2 to 5 months) and the cuttings are transplanted to pots, at a slant, and watered once or twice a day for several months or until the plants are 2 ft. (60 cm) high. A refined method of rapid propagation uses stem cuttings taken from root shoots. In Puerto Rico, the cuttings are transplanted into plastic bags containing a mixture of soil, peat and sand, kept under mist for a week, then under 65% shade, and given liquid fertilizer and regular watering. When the root system is well developed, they are allowed full sun until time to set out in the field.
In India, it is reported that breadfruit scions can be successfully grafted or budded onto seedlings of wild jackfruit trees.
Culture
Young breadfruit trees are planted in well-enriched holes 15 in (40 cm) deep and 3 ft. (0.9 m) wide that are first prepared by burning trash in them to sterilize the soil and then insecticide is mixed with the soil to protect the roots and shoots from grubs. The trees are spaced 25 to 40 ft. (7.5-12 m) apart in plantations. Usually there are about 25 trees per acre (84/ha). Those grown from root suckers will bear in 5 years and will be productive for 50 years. Some growers recommend pruning of branches that have borne fruit and would normally die back, because this practice stimulates new shoots and also tends to keep the tree from being too tall for convenient harvesting.
Standard mixtures of NPK are applied seasonally. When the trees reach bearing age, they each receive, in addition, 4.4 lbs. (2 kg) superphosphate per year to increase the size and quality of the fruits.
Season
In the South Seas, the tree fruits more or less continuously, fruit in all stages of development being present on the tree the year around, but there are two or three main fruiting periods. In the Caroline Islands and the Gilbert Islands, the main ripening season is May to July or September; in the Society Islands and New Hebrides, from November to April, the secondary crop being in July and August. Breadfruits are most abundant in Hawaiian markets off and on from July to February. Flowering starts in March in northern India and fruits are ready for harvest in about 3 months. Seeded breadfruits growing in the Eastern Caroline Islands fruit only once a year but the season is 3 months long—from December to March. Seedless varieties introduced from Ponape bear 2 to 3 times a year. In the Bahamas, breadfruit is available mainly from June to November, but some fruits may mature at other times during the year.
Harvesting and Yield
Breadfruits are picked when maturity is indicated by the appearance of small drops of latex on the surface. Harvesters climb the trees and break the fruit stalk with a forked stick so that the fruit will fall. Even though this may cause some bruising or splitting, it is considered better than catching the fruits by hand because the broken pedicel leaks much latex. They are packed in cartons in which they are separated individually by dividers.
In the South Pacific, the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year. In southern India, normal production is 150 to 200 fruits annually. Productivity varies between wet and dry areas. In the West Indies, a conservative estimate is 25 fruits per tree. Studies in Barbados indicate a reasonable potential of 6.7 to 13.4 tons per acre (16-32 tons/ha). Much higher yields have been forecasted, but experts are skeptical and view these as unrealistic.
Keeping Quality
In Jamaica, surplus breadfruits are often kept under water until needed. Fully ripe fruits that have fallen from the tree can be wrapped in polyethylene, or put into polyethylene bags, and kept for 10 days in storage at a temperature of 53.6°F (12°C). At lower temperature, the fruit shows chilling injury. Slightly unripe fruits that have been caught by hand when knocked down can be maintained for 15 days under the same conditions. The thickness of the polyethylene is important: 38-or even 50-micrometer bags are beneficial, but not 25-micrometer.
Some Jamaican exporters partly roast the whole fruits to coagulate the latex, let them cool, and then ship them by sea to New York and Europe. Various means of preserving breadfruit for future local use are mentioned under “Food Uses”, q.v.
Pests and Diseases
Soft-scales and mealybugs are found on breadfruit trees in the West Indies and ants infest branches that die back after fruiting. In southern India, the fruits on the tree are subject to soft rot. This fungus disease can be controlled by two sprays of Bordeaux mixture, one month apart. Young breadfruit trees in Trinidad have been killed by a disease caused by Rosellinia sp. In the Pacific Islands Fusarium sp. is believed to be the cause of die back, and Pythium sp. is suspected in cases of root rot. A mysterious malady, called “Pingalap disease”, killed thousands of trees from 1957 to 1960 in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, the Caroline Islands, Marshalls and Mariannas. The foliage wilts and then the branch dies back. Sometimes the whole tree is affected and killed to the roots; occasionally only half of a tree declines. The fungus, Phytophthora palmivora, attacks the fruit on the island of Truk. Phomopsis, Dothiorella and Phylospora cause stem-end rot.
Food Uses
Like the banana and plantain, the breadfruit may be eaten ripe as a fruit or underrate as a vegetable. For the latter purpose, it is picked while still starchy and is boiled or, in the traditional Pacific Island fashion, roasted in an underground oven on pre-heated rocks. Sometimes it is cored and stuffed with coconut before roasting. Malayans peel firm-ripe fruits, slice the pulp and fry it in syrup or palm sugar until it is crisp and brown. Filipinos enjoy the cooked fruit with coconut and sugar.
Fully ripe fruits, being sweeter, are baked whole with a little water in the pan. Some cooks remove the stem and core before cooking and put butter and sugar in the cavity, and serve with more of the same. Others may serve the baked fruit with butter, salt and pepper. Ripe fruits may be halved or quartered and steamed for 1 or 2 hours and seasoned in the same manner as baked fruits. The steamed fruit is sometimes sliced, rolled in flour and fried in deep fat. In Hawaii, under ripe fruits are diced, boiled, and served with butter and sugar, or salt and pepper, or diced and cooked with other vegetables, bacon and milk as a chowder. In the Bahamas, breadfruit soup is made by boiling under ripe chunks of breadfruit in water until the liquid begins to thicken, then adding cooked salt pork, chopped onion, white pepper and salt, stirring till thick, then adding milk and butter, straining, adding a bit of sherry and simmering until ready to serve.
The pulp scraped from soft, ripe breadfruits is combined with coconut milk (not coconut water), salt and sugar and baked to make a pudding. A more elaborate dessert is concocted of mashed ripe breadfruit, with butter, 2 beaten eggs, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and rosewater, a dash of sherry or brandy, blended and boiled. There are numerous other dishes peculiar to different areas. Breadfruit is also candied, or sometimes prepared as a sweet pickle.
In Micronesia, the peel is scraped off with a sharpened cowrie shell, or the fruits are peeled with a knife, cored, cut up and put into sacks or baskets, soaked in the sea for about 2 hours while being beaten or trampled; allowed to drain on shore for a few days; then packed in banana leaf-lined boxes to ferment for a month or much longer, the leaves being changed weekly.
In Polynesia and Micronesia, a large number of fruits are baked in a native oven and left there to ferment. Over a period of a few weeks, batches are taken out as needed. In the New Hebrides, peeled breadfruits are wrapped in leaves and placed to ferment in piles of stones on open beaches where they will be flooded at high tide. In Samoa, seeded breadfruits are skinned, washed, quartered and left to ferment in a pit lined and covered with layers of banana and Heliconia leaves, and topped with earth and rocks. The fruits ferment for long periods, sometimes for several years, and form a pasty mass called masi. The seeds are squeezed out, the paste is wrapped in Heliconia leaves smeared with coconut cream and the product is baked for 2 hours. There is a strong, cheese-like odor, but it is much relished by the natives.
The original method of poi making involved peeling, washing and halving the fruit, discarding the core, placing the fruits in stone pits lined with leaves of Cordylme terminalis Kunth, alternating the layers of fruit with old fermented pod, covering the upper layer with leaves, topping the pit with soil and rocks and leaving the contents to ferment, which acidifies and preserves the breadfruit for several years.
Modern poi is made from firm-ripe fruits, boiled whole until tender, cored, sliced, ground, pounded to a paste, kneaded with added water to thin it, strained through cloth, and eaten. If it is to be kept in the refrigerator for 2 days, only a little water is added in kneading; more is added and it is strained just before serving. Food value and digestibility are improved by mixing with poi made from taro which is rated highly as a non-allergenic food. In the Seychelles, the seedless breadfruit is cut into slices 1/2 in (1.25 cm) thick, dried for 4 days at 120°F (48.89°C). In some Pacific Islands, the fruits are partly roasted, then peeled, dried and formed into loaves for long-time storage. The Ceylonese dip breadfruit slices into a salt solution, then blanch them in boiling water for 5 minutes, dry them at 158°F (70°C) for 4 to 6 hours before storing. The slices will keep in good condition for 8 to 10 months. In Guam, cooked fruits may be mashed to a paste which is spread out thin, dried in the sun, and wrapped in leaves for storage. It is soaked in water to soften it for eating. This might be called “breadfruit leather”. On the small Kapingamarangi Atoll in the Caroline Islands, the cooked paste is pressed into sheets 5 ft. (1.5 m) long and 20 in (50 cm) wide, dried in the sun on coconut leaf mats, then rolled into cylinders, wrapped in Pandanus leaves and stored for at least 3 years.
The dried fruit has been made into flour and improved methods have been explored in Barbados and Brazil with a view to substituting breadfruit in part for wheat flour in breadmaking. The combination has been found more nutritious than wheat flour alone. Breadfruit flour is much richer than wheat flour in lysine and other essential amino acids. In Jamaica, the flour is boiled, sweetened, and eaten as porridge for breakfast.
Soft or overripe breadfruit is best for making chips and these are being manufactured commercially in Trinidad and Barbados. Some breadfruit is canned in Dominica and Trinidad for shipment to London and New York.
In Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the South Pacific, fallen male flower spikes are boiled, peeled and eaten as vegetables or are candied by recooking, for 2-3 hours, in syrup; then rolled in powdered sugar and sun-dried.
The seeds are boiled, steamed, roasted over a fire or in hot coals and eaten with salt. In West Africa, they are sometimes made into a puree. In Costa Rica, the cooked seeds are sold by street vendors.
Under ripe fruits are cooked for feeding to pigs. Soft-ripe fruits need not be cooked and constitute a large part of the animal feed in many breadfruit-growing areas of the Old and New World. Breadfruit has been investigated as potential material for chick feed but has been found to produce less weight gain than cassava or maize despite higher intake, and it also causes delayed maturity.
Other Uses
- Leaves: Breadfruit leaves are eagerly eaten by domestic livestock. In India, they are fed to cattle and goats; in Guam, to cattle, horses and pigs. Horses are apt to eat the bark of young trees as well, so new plantings must be protected from them.
- Latex: Breadfruit latex has been used in the past as birdlime on the tips of posts to catch birds. The early Hawaiians plucked the feathers for their ceremonial cloaks, then removed the gummy substance from the birds’ feet with oil from the candlenut, Aleurites moluccana Willd., or with sugarcane juice, and released them. After boiling with coconut oil, the latex serves for caulking boats and, mixed with colored earth, is used as a paint for boats.
- Wood: The wood is yellowish or yellow-gray with dark markings or orange speckles; light in weight; not very hard but strong, elastic and termite resistant (except for dry wood termites) and is used for construction and furniture. In Samoa, it is the standard material for house-posts and for the rounded roof-ends of native houses. The wood of the Samoan variety ‘Aveloloa’ which has deeply cut leaves, is most preferred for house-building, but that of ‘Puou’, an ancient variety, is also utilized. In Guam and Puerto Rico the wood is used for interior partitions. Because of its lightness, the wood is in demand for surfboards. Traditional Hawaiian drums are made from sections of breadfruit trunks 2 ft. (60 cm) long and 1 ft. (30 cm) in width, and these are played with the palms of the hands during Hula dances. After seasoning by burying in mud, the wood is valued for making household articles. These are rough-sanded by coral and lava, but the final smoothing is accomplished with the dried stipules of the breadfruit tree itself.
- Fiber: Fiber from the bark is difficult to extract but highly durable. Malaysians fashioned it into clothing. Material for tape cloth is obtained from the inner bark of young trees and branches. In the Philippines, it is made into harnesses for water buffalo.
- Flowers: The male flower spike used to be blended with the fiber of the paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera Vent. to make elegant loincloths. When thoroughly dry, the flower spikes also serve as tinder.
- Medicinal Uses: In Trinidad and the Bahamas, a decoction of the breadfruit leaf is believed to lower blood pressure, and is also said to relieve asthma. Crushed leaves are applied on the tongue as a treatment for thrush. The leaf juice is employed as ear-drops. Ashes of burned leaves are used on skin infections. A powder of roasted leaves is employed as a remedy for enlarged spleen. The crushed fruit is poultice on tumors to “ripen” them. Toasted flowers are rubbed on the gums around an aching tooth. The latex is used on skin diseases and is bandaged on the spine to relieve sciatica. Diluted latex is taken internally to overcome diarrhea.
Source and Photos: en.wikipedia.org, hort.purdue.edu