# I bought breadfruit! Now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600 "2015-04-26T23:37:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/1 "2015-04-26T23:37:32Z")
The grocery store had a few breadfruit, of all things. Captain Bligh sailed around the world to bring this to me. Now I have to figure out how to prepare it. Some articles I’ve seen suggest that it is “all but inedible.” Any suggestions? Need answer fast; this thing is far from fresh. ---
**Author:** ![McGuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@McGuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McGuffy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/2 "2015-04-27T00:34:47Z")
Check these for some ideas: > **[Celebrating and savoring breadfruit in Hana, Hawaii](https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-d-breadfruit-20150426-story.html)** > > Before I was asked to judge the breadfruit cook-off at Hana's week-long Festivals of Aloha in October, I had never actually sampled the fruit, a member of the fig family. [http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/uses/food1.php](http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/uses/food1.php) [http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/resources/display/cat/7/](http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/resources/display/cat/7/) ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/3 "2015-04-27T00:55:36Z")
Where did you find that? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/4 "2015-04-27T02:14:48Z")
[http://cooklikeajamaican.com/roasted-and-fried-breadfruit/](http://cooklikeajamaican.com/roasted-and-fried-breadfruit/) [http://happyandraw.com/cooked-vegan-breadfruit-pancakes/](http://happyandraw.com/cooked-vegan-breadfruit-pancakes/) > **[Brief\_Breadfruit\_Basics.pdf](https://hdoa.hawaii.gov/add/files/2014/05/Brief_Breadfruit_Basics.pdf)** > > 300.71 KB > **[Boiled Breadfruit in Coconut Milk - House of Annie](https://www.houseofannie.com/boiled-breadfruit-in-coconut-milk/)** > > A taste of home in faraway Borneo. Breadfruit is a fruit in the Artocarpus genus, so it is related to jackfruit and buah tarap but the flesh is very starchy and not at all sweet like its cousins. With origins in Papua New Guinea, it is cultivated and... > **[How to Cook Breadfruit](https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-cook-breadfruit/)** > > Starchy breadfruit has a texture similar to a potato and a yeasty scent like freshly baked bread when it's cooked. While you can cook breadfruit in a variety of ways, roasting it in the oven keeps the spongy fruit from becoming mushy, as it would... > **[‘How to Cook Breadfruit’ Articles at CaribbeanPot.com – The Best Caribbean...](http://caribbeanpot.com/tag/how-to-cook-breadfruit/)** > > Articles tagged with 'How to Cook Breadfruit' at CaribbeanPot.com - The Best Caribbean Recipes Online by Chef & Gourmand Award Winning Cookbook Author, Chris... > **[Breadfruit Tostones](https://karma-free-cooking.com/2009/04/29/breadfruit-tostones/)** > > This is another of the recipes related to my Foodbuzz’s 24,24,24 April event… A Very Veggie Experiment.   Tostones in Puerto Rico are typically made from plantains… but you can ma… > **[Two Jamaican Breadfruit Recipes - Sweet Jamaica](https://sweetjamaica.co.uk/two-jamaican-breadfruit-recipes/)** > > Some Jamaican's believe that eating Breadfruit makes you 'fraid, or plainly put a coward. However, whether this 'ol time saying is true or not, I simply love cooking and eating Breadfruit. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/5 "2015-04-27T02:29:14Z")
Mutiny. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/6 "2015-04-27T03:55:15Z")
Thanks, folks! ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/7 "2015-04-27T05:29:19Z")
Please come back and tell us how you cooked it, and whether you liked it. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/8 "2015-05-01T18:36:02Z")
By far the easiest, (and second best to eat) are bread-fruit chips (well, I guess the easiest is to just break it open and eat the inside) and you make them just like you make potato chips. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/9 "2015-05-01T18:41:44Z")
Stage a muti… dammit! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/10 "2015-05-01T18:45:22Z")
From my post in this thread last December: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=742639&highlight=breadfruit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=742639&highlight=breadfruit) > [@](#): > > I had read Jules Verne’s description of Ned Land preparing breadfruit in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea when I was a kid, and thought it sounded interesting, but I never saw any breadfruit. A few years ago I mentioned to a co-worker about bringing durian to a party (as I’ve described it on this Board), and mentioned that I’d wanted to try breadfruit as well. > > When my birthday came around, I was amazed to find that he’d put a box on my desk. Opening it, I found a breadfruit inside, about the size of a smallish soccer ball. He admitted that he got it for me because of my story. I still don’t know where he found it. > > I looked up cooking instructions on the internet. It turned out to be very different from Verne’s description. You basically have to bake it first, then cut it into slices and fry it. There was considerably more “grain” inside than I expected. The end product was not the homogenous pastry-like confection Verne described, but a more plantain-like structured thing. It also didn’t have much flavor. I can see why it never caught on among most Europeans or North Americans. In case you’re wondering, here’s what I said about durian [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=749192&highlight=breadfruit:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=749192&highlight=breadfruit:) > [@](#): > > As I’ve mentioned befoire on this Board, I once brought Durian to a party. It was a weird, eclectic group, so I figured they’d find it interesting (as would I – I’ved been curious about durian ever since I first heard about it). So we set up a table for it, well downwind of the party. Everybody came over to sample it. > > After the party, the host came over to tell me: > > 1.) It was a good thing that I brought it. > 2.) Don’t ever do it again. > For my part, I was disappointed. It didn’t smell anywhere near as bad as it has been made out to be. On the other hand, it didn’t taste anywhere near as good as it’s reputed to. I found its gloppy texture sort of gross, and it had big seed pods inside that looked like an alien’s attempt to take over a human being. One guy liked the durian enough to take the rest of it back home with him, eliminating the what-d-we-do-with-the-garbage question. > > I had a similar reaction to Breadfruit, when somebody gave me one as a present. Not as good as it was made out to be, really bland, and texture unlike what I had expected. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/11 "2015-05-01T18:46:21Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Captain Bligh sailed around the world to bring this to me. Captain Bligh sailed around the world to take breadfruit to slaves in the Caribbean. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/12 "2015-05-01T19:03:25Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Captain Bligh sailed around the world to take breadfruit to slaves in the Caribbean. 🙂 And the slaves didn’t like it, which is **not** a ringing endorsement of the taste and texture of breadfruit! (I’m guessing the slaves weren’t spoiled by a surfeit of tasty, quality cuisine.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-breadfruit-now-what/718600/13 "2015-05-01T19:15:28Z")
You could always have a quiet word with Mr. Christian and… dammit!