Kolleen Gladden ‘21
Photographer
It was my sophomore year of college when I first became interested in veganism and a plant-based lifestyle. I have become increasingly serious about it over the years, and although I have not fully perfected my habits (and thus would shy away from calling myself a true vegan *just yet*), I would definitely say I am, at the very least, plant-based. This way of life improved dramatically when Christian Sorensen ’21 expressed an interest in joining me, because he has the skills and patience for cooking.[1] As we researched potential recipe ideas, we set our sights on the jackfruit.
Jackfruit is part of the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family, originating in the region between southern India and Malaysia. Its neutral flavor, meaty texture, and nutritional value also makes it an ideal candidate for a meat substitute. After I had no luck at my usual stops of Trader Joe’s and Kroger, I reluctantly decided to inspect Whole Foods. Armed with naïve confidence, I made my way over in search of the fruit.
Quickly, I found my target. A single jackfruit loomed large over all other produce, a massive beacon. There’s no way we can use all of this, I thought to myself. I texted a picture of it to Christian to get his thoughts. Later I would find out that he had completely missed the diminutive looking pineapples, dwarfed by the massive jackfruit they flanked. His reply was simple. “Buy the fruit, coward.” I looked up from my phone and made eye contact with the Goliath. How much could this thing weigh anyway, fifteen pounds? I picked it up, and it felt lighter than I expected. I made my way over to the counter and plopped it in front of the wide-eyed cashier. Within minutes, I realized I’d made a grave error. The jackfruit was not fifteen pounds; it was twenty-seven. I watched in horror as the display screen showed “Jackfruit: $100.01.” One hundred dollars. Nearly half of my typical monthly grocery budget. It was too late to sprint out of the store, never to return. I paid for it and walked out of the store, slack-jawed and wild-eyed with my haul.
Pictured: Yeah, it's that big. It could've provided enough food to survive all of quarantine so far. Photo Courtesy of Kolleen Gladden '21.
When Christian greeted me on arrival, he laughed so hard he cried, before proudly carting the jackfruit back to his apartment like it was a prized pig. For the next three hours, we disemboweled the beast and strewed its flesh about his kitchen and dining room.[2] We decided to use a container at a time, freezing the rest. For the next two months, that jackfruit was the star of a number of recipes and supplied countless dishes, so I am significantly less disgruntled over the initial price tag. Without further ado, here are some of the things we tried.
Pulled pork nachos. We sauteed the jackfruit until it could be pulled apart with forks, marinating it in barbecue sauce, layered it on top of chips, cheese, countless toppings and vegetables, then baked the entire thing and covered it with Trader Joe’s creamy jalapeno sauce. It was spectacular. Both of us agreed they were some of the best nachos we’d ever had.
Gyro bowls. We followed a recipe for gyro meat, substituting only the jackfruit, then layered it in a bowl with various veggies, vegan feta, hummus, and tzatziki. This again proved successful.
Jackfruit seed curry. Jackfruit seeds, when peeled and baked, have a nice, mellow flavor to them. I believe we used Savory Spin’s recipe for this one. The seeds absorbed the curry flavor and had a wonderful texture to them.
Pumpkin pie. This was Christian’s culinary genius at work. He decided to use the remaining jackfruit seeds as the crust for a vegan pumpkin pie. It was truly incredible. Instead of the extremely sweet, graham cracker taste, the seeds gave a crunchy, nutty texture that took the recipe to the next level.
Tuna salad. This was definitely one of my favorites. We made hot tuna melts, substituting jackfruit for tuna. It had all of the upsides of tuna without the ultra-fishy aftertaste. I’d call that a win in my book.
Teriyaki sushi bowls. Another super easy, delicious meal. We followed a recipe for teriyaki chicken and subbed jackfruit, then topped sushi rice with the teriyaki jackfruit mix, cucumbers, peppers, avocado, and finished with sesame seeds.
Mexican Pozole. The jackfruit tasted just like pork, and it was a perfect soup to kick off the cooler weather.
Crab cakes. Our final foray into cooking with jackfruit involved following a recipe for crab cakes and substituting jackfruit. These did not stick together quite as well as traditional crab cakes, but the flavor was excellent nonetheless.
Final thoughts: Even though the upfront costs of the initial price tag and disassembly time were rather high, I definitely think in the end we got our money and time’s worth out of it. Each of these recipes easily made ten servings, and the time and cost of buying different types of meats for each recipe would have been much higher. If you are looking to experiment, this might be something to consider.
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kcg3ar@virginia.edu