Prepare Breadfruit for Cooking

The breadfruit is sometimes mistaken for a young jackfruit! This fruit has very thin, bumpy skin compared to the jackfruit and the flesh is white or pale yellow. The breadfruit certainly does not taste like bread.  It has a mild taste of a potato and is starchy and you can roast, bake, steam, grill, stir fry……… just like you would handle a potato.

Though you can eat a ripe breadfruit as it is, I prefer to cook it. The unripe breadfruit contains a sticky white sap that not only oxidizes and turns the fruit brown very quickly, but also sticks to your hands, chopping board and knife. It is not easy to wash it off. 

Some people may be allergic to this sap and will suffer from itchy skin after handling the unripe breadfruit.

To prepare the breadfruit for cooking, lay the tabletop with double layers of newspapers.

Grease both your hands generously with oil.  I prefer using coconut oil.  Alternatively, you can use gloves but from experience I prefer using the oil.

Grease the knife and the surface of the chopping board with oil.  Keep a bowl of water om the side.

Place the fruit on the chopping board and using the knife, remove the green skin.

Cut the top (stem end part) off and discard.

Cut the fruit into half lengthwise and then further into quarters.  As the centre stalk is not edible, cut if off and discard it too.

Chop the breadfruit into desired thickness and shape, depending on how you want to cook them.

Place the cut pieces in the bowl of water until you are ready to use them.